France to recognise Palestinian state at contentious UN

The Palestinian flag is displayed on the Grabels' town hall, near Montpellier, southern France, next to European and French flags. Photo / Gabriel Bouys, AFP

France and other countries are set to join several Western governments that have angered Israel by recognising a Palestinian state as the UN’s centrepiece diplomatic week got under way in New York.

Recognition by Australia, Britain, Canada and Portugal on Sunday piled pressure on Israel as it intensifies its war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands, devastated the enclave and drawn vocal rebukes from its allies.

President Emmanuel Macron has indicated France will follow suit on Monday as he prepares to host a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the moribund idea of a two-state solution, envisioning Palestinian and Israeli co-existence.

“They want a nation, they want a state, and we should not push them towards Hamas,” Macron said on Sunday, adding that outside recognition of Palestinian aspirations would help isolate the armed group.

Macron also said he would make the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel a precondition for opening a French embassy to the Palestinian state.

Israel’s foreign ministry said that recognition does not “promote peace, but on the contrary further destabilises the region and undermines the chances of achieving a peaceful solution”.

Israel said it would skip an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Gaza on Tuesday because of the Jewish New Year, calling the timing “regrettable”.

More than 140 world leaders will descend on New York this week for the annual United Nations General Assembly, which will be dominated by the Palestinian crisis.

One world leader who will miss the gathering is Mahmud Abbas, the Palestinian president whom Washington denied a visa, along with his officials.

That earned a rebuke from the UN General Assembly, which will be the focus of world leaders’ speeches and protest walkouts this week. The assembly voted 145 to five to exceptionally allow Abbas to speak via video link.

The humanitarian catastrophe ravaging the small Palestinian territory will top the agenda, two years after the beginning of the Israeli offensive that was triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

Some diplomats fear Israeli reprisals over the Western push to recognise a Palestinian state.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday “a negotiated two-state solution is the path that can allow Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security and dignity”.

‘Erasure of Palestinian life’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday his position that there would be no Palestinian state and vowed to accelerate the creation of new settlements.

Two far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, went further, calling for the annexation of the West Bank.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP on Friday “we should not feel intimidated by the risk of retaliation”.

“With or without doing what we are doing, these actions would go on and at least there is a chance to mobilise international community to put pressure for them not to happen,” he said.

All eyes will be on Netanyahu when he speaks on Friday.

Washington has repeatedly rejected Abbas’ Palestinian Authority as a partner for peace.

“Unless backed up by concrete measures, recognising Palestine as a state risks becoming a distraction from the reality, which is an accelerating erasure of Palestinian life in their homeland,” said International Crisis Group’s Israel-Palestine project director, Max Rodenbeck.

The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1219 Israelis, mostly civilians, according to official data.

Israeli military operations since then have killed 65,062 Palestinians, mostly civilians, says the Hamas-run health ministry, figures the UN considers reliable.

As well as Gaza, Russia’s violations of its neighbours’ airspace will be in the spotlight.

The Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss Estonia’s allegation that Russia violated its airspace.

-Agence France-Presse