French President Emmanuel Macron said he will formally recognize the State of Palestine on Monday in New York, a move he described as part of a broader peace plan for the Middle East.
Macron said the decision aims to meet the aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians for security and peace. He added that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has pledged to implement reforms to renew Palestinian governance and prepare for statehood.
“France will continue to stand alongside the Palestinian authorities on this path,” Macron said, underlining the urgency of stabilizing the region.
"We have to recognize the legitimate right of Palestinian people to have a state," Macron said in an interview broadcast Thursday on Israeli television Channel 12. "If you don't give a political perspective, in fact you just put them in the hands of those who are just proposing a security approach, an aggressive approach."
The move comes as Israel this week launched its ground offensive in Gaza City, which Macron denounced as "absolutely unacceptable" and "a huge mistake."
Macron argues the move is the only way to bring peace and stability to the region as it puts back on the table a two-state solution, in which a Palestinian state would be created alongside Israel in most or all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - territories Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast war.
More than 145 countries already recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.
The U.K., Canada, Australia, Portugal, Malta, Belgium and Luxembourg, among others, are expected to follow Macron's lead in recognizing Palestinian statehood in the coming days.
The move aims to prompt "tangible, irreversible progress within a time frame that allows for a return to the two-state solution," according to a top French diplomat. The official spoke anonymously in line with the French presidency's customary practices.
"Our analysis shared by regional players, starting with Saudi Arabia, is that this (peace) process can only resume with the creation of a Palestinian state," the official said.
Macron announced his decision at the end of July, arguing there's no time to wait. "The urgent thing today is that the war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved," he wrote on social platform X.
