The French government wants to recognize a Palestinian state as part of the European Union, Palestinian ambassador to France Salman al-Harfi said on Sunday.
"The Palestinian leadership aspires for France to recognize a state of Palestine, assume its role in the Middle East and form the backbone of the supportive European position," Harfi said in a phone call, the Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.
Home to Europe's largest Muslim and Jewish communities, France insists on a two-state solution for maintaining the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amid U.S. President Donald Trump's pro-Israel policies hampering the process in the region.
Israel has long maintained that only direct negotiations with the Palestinians can lead to peace and sees France's efforts as a diversion.
France's stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict has been in favor of the creation of a Palestinian state, as France supports Palestine's membership in UNESCO and its observer non-member state status at the U.N.
France had repeatedly tried to breathe new life into the peace process last year, holding a Middle East peace conference in Paris and calling for Israel and Palestinians to embrace a two-state solution as the only route to peace. However, Israel declined France's invitation, calling the attempts from Palestinians and France "useless."
The two-state solution has long been the cornerstone of U.S. and international policy, and Trump's row-back has met with hostility from other world powers when he made spoke on the issue last week.
