France to recognize Palestinian statehood as Europe hardens stance on IsraelPolitico.eu, Jul 24, 2025
France will establish formal diplomatic relations with Palestine, President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, amid a renewed push in Europe to bring the war in Gaza to an end.
“True to its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine,” Macron said in a statement posted online, pledging to formally announce the move at a meeting of the United Nations in September.
“The urgency today is to end the war in Gaza and to provide aid to the civilian population,” he wrote. “The French people want peace in the Middle East. It is up to us, the French, together with the Israelis, the Palestinians, and our European and international partners, to demonstrate that it is possible.”
Shortly after Macron’s move, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer convened an “emergency call” with the U.K.’s E3 partners — France, Germany and Italy — for Friday to “discuss what we can do urgently to stop the killing and get people the food they desperately need.”
In his strongest statement yet, Starmer also said “the suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and indefensible,” and called statehood “the inalienable right of the Palestinian people.”
Responding to Macron’s declaration, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “a Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said “Macron’s announcement of his intention to recognize a Palestinian state is a disgrace and a surrender to terrorism, granting a reward and encouragement to the murderers and rapists of Hamas, who carried out the most horrific massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
Eleven out of 27 EU member countries have already recognized Palestinian statehood, including Spain, Romania, Sweden, Ireland and Bulgaria.
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https://www.politico.eu/article/france-palestine-statehood-emmanuel-macron-middle-east-war-gaza/