French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France may formally recognize the State of Palestine “in the coming months,” marking a potential turning point in global diplomacy.
Speaking during an interview with France 5 television on Wednesday, Macron confirmed his intention to take decisive steps toward recognition during an upcoming United Nations conference focused on the Middle East. The event, scheduled for June, will be co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
“We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,” Macron declared. “I’m not doing it to please anyone. I’ll do it because at some point it will be right.”
Palestinian officials welcomed the announcement. Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, Palestine’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, described France’s potential recognition as “a step in the right direction in line with safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people and the two-state solution.”
Israel, however, strongly opposed the move. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar warned that any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would amount to “a prize for terror and a boost for Hamas.”
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Saar said: “A ‘unilateral recognition’ of a fictional Palestinian state, by any country, in the reality that we all know, will be a prize for terror and a boost for Hamas. These kinds of actions will not bring peace, security, and stability in our region closer – but the opposite: they only push them further away.”
Macron’s comments add to growing international momentum for Palestinian statehood. As of now, 147 of the 193 United Nations member states recognize Palestine as a sovereign state.
In the past year alone, countries including Armenia, Slovenia, Ireland, Norway, Spain, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados have extended formal recognition.
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