French President Macron says France will recognize Palestine as a state
[July 25, 2025]
By ANGELA CHARLTON
PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that
France will recognize Palestine as a state, in a bold diplomatic move
amid snowballing global anger over people starving in Gaza. Israel
denounced the decision.
Macron said in a post on X that he will formalize the decision at the
U.N. General Assembly in September. “The urgent thing today is that the
war in Gaza stops and the civilian population is saved,'' he wrote.
The mostly symbolic move puts added diplomatic pressure on Israel as the
war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip rage. France is now the
biggest Western power to recognize Palestine, and the move could pave
the way for other countries to do the same. More than 140 countries
recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.
The Palestinians seek an independent state in the occupied West Bank,
annexed east Jerusalem and Gaza, territories Israel occupied in the 1967
Mideast war. Israel’s government and most of its political class have
long been opposed to Palestinian statehood and now say that it would
reward militants after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
‘’We strongly condemn President Macron’s decision,'' Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. ‘’Such a move rewards
terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became. A
Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to
annihilate Israel — not to live in peace beside it.''
The Palestinian Authority welcomed it. A letter announcing the move was
presented Thursday to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem.
‘’We express our thanks and appreciation'' to Macron, Hussein Al Sheikh,
the PLO's vice president under Abbas, posted. ‘’This position reflects
France’s commitment to international law and its support for the
Palestinian people’s rights to self-determination.''
The United States “strongly rejects" Macron's plan to recognize a
Palestinian state, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a post on the
social platform X.
"This reckless decision only serves Hamas propaganda and sets back
peace. It is a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th," Rubio
said.
With Europe’s largest Jewish population and the largest Muslim
population in western Europe, France has often seen fighting in the
Middle East spill over into protests or other tensions at home.
The French president offered support for Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas
attacks and frequently speaks out against antisemitism, but he has grown
increasingly frustrated about Israel's war in Gaza.
″Given its historic commitment to a just and sustainable peace in the
Middle East, I have decided that France will recognize the state of
Palestine,'' Macron posted. ″Peace is possible.''
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French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to the army leaders at the
Hotel le Brienne, Sunday, July 13, 2025, ahead of the Bastille Day
parade in Paris. (Ludovic Marin, Pool Photo via AP)
Thursday’s announcement came soon after the U.S. cut short Gaza
ceasefire talks in Qatar, saying Hamas wasn’t showing good faith.
It also came days before France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting a
conference at the U.N. next week about a two-state solution. Last
month, Macron expressed his “determination to recognize the state of
Palestine,” and he has pushed for a broader movement toward a
two-state solution in parallel with recognition of Israel and its
right to defend itself.
Momentum has been building against Israel in recent days. Earlier
this week, France and more than two dozen mostly European countries
condemned Israel’s restrictions on aid shipments into the territory
and the killings of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food.
Macron will join the leaders of Britain and Germany for emergency
talks Friday on Gaza, how to get food to the hungry and how to stop
fighting.
“We are clear that statehood is the inalienable right of the
Palestinian people. A ceasefire will put us on a path to the
recognition of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution which
guarantees peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis,''
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in announcing the call.
“The suffering and starvation unfolding in Gaza is unspeakable and
indefensible.''
Israel annexed east Jerusalem shortly after the 1967 war and
considers it part of its capital. In the West Bank, it has built
scores of settlements, some resembling sprawling suburbs, that are
now home to over 500,000 Jewish settlers with Israeli citizenship.
The territory’s 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military
rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in
population centers.
The last serious peace talks broke down in 2009, when Netanyahu
returned to power. Most of the international community considers the
establishment of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel to be
the only realistic solution to the century-old conflict.
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AP journalists Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Joseph Krauss in
Ottawa, Ontario, contributed to this report.
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