France Considers Recognizing Palestinian State Within Months, Macron Says

President Emmanuel Macron has stated that France could recognize a Palestinian state “in the coming months,” signaling a potential major shift in French policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Al Jazeera reports.

Macron announced his intentions during a television interview on France 5, stating that he aims to finalize the move at a United Nations conference on the conflict, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia in June.

“We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,” Macron said. “I’m not doing it to please anyone. I’ll do it because at some point it will be right.”

The move has been met with mixed reactions. Palestine’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, told AFP that France’s recognition would be “a step in the right direction in line with safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people and the two-state solution.”

However, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar criticized the potential recognition, stating that any “unilateral recognition” of a Palestinian state would be a “boost for Hamas.”

To date, 147 out of 193 UN member states have recognized Palestine as a sovereign state. Armenia, Slovenia, Ireland, Norway, Spain, the Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and Barbados have all joined that list in the past year. Despite growing international support, major Western powers like the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany have yet to grant recognition.

Macron suggested that recognizing Palestine as a state could lead to a “collective dynamic,” potentially paving the way for some countries in the Middle East to, in turn, recognize Israel. Key countries that do not recognize Israel include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

He also stated that recognition would allow France “to be clear in our fight against those who deny Israel’s right to exist, which is the case with Iran, and to commit ourselves to collective security in the region.”

France has long supported a two-state solution to the conflict and has maintained that policy even after the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel. Formal recognition of a Palestinian state by Paris would mark a significant policy change and could strain relations with Israel, which views such moves as premature.

Macron’s recent talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Jordan’s King Abdullah II emphasized his strong opposition to any displacement or annexation in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.