Recognising Palestinian state not a taboo for France, says Macron

French president Emmanuel Macron announced that France would no longer refrain from recognising a Palestinian state, implying that in the event that Israeli resistance prevented negotiations for a two-state solution from moving forward, Paris might take the lead. Without actual talks, a unilateral French recognition would not significantly alter the ground situation, but it would have diplomatic and symbolic significance. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has stated that he is against Palestinian sovereignty and that he will not give up on maintaining complete Israeli security control west of Jordan. He claims that this is incompatible with the idea of a Palestinian state. In 2014, a symbolic vote by French lawmakers to call for their government to recognize Palestine was taken, though it had little bearing on France’s diplomatic position. Macron’s comments were the first time a French leader had made such a suggestion and highlighted further impatience among Western leaders as casualties mount in Gaza from Israeli retaliation after an attack on Oct. 7 by Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas that killed 1,200 people, and took 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. “Our partners in the region, notably Jordan, are working on it, we are working on it with them. We are ready to contribute to it, in Europe and in the Security Council. The recognition of a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France,” Macron said alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Paris. “We owe it to the Palestinians, whose aspirations have been trampled on for too long. We owe it to the Israelis who lived through the greatest anti-Semitic massacre of our century. We owe it to a region that longs to escape the promoters of chaos and the those who sow revenge,” he said. Macron’s comments are likely aimed at adding pressure on Israel. Israel’s massive aerial and ground offensive in small, densely populated Gaza has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians, flattened built-up areas and left most of its 2.3 million people homeless. While most developing countries recognise Palestine as a state, most Western European countries do not, arguing that an independent Palestinian state should emerge from negotiations with Israel. British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said earlier this month that part of British policy is to say there will be a time when Britain would look to recognise a Palestinian state, including at the United Nations. Macron added that an Israeli offensive in Rafah could only lead to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and would be a turning point in the conflict. With inputs from Reuters