Prior to the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) annual meeting in New York, France recognized a Palestinian state, joining several Western nations in doing so.
At a UN summit convened to revive the stalled two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, President Emmanuel Macron declared, “We have gathered here because the time has come.”
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“We have a responsibility to do everything in our power to keep the possibility of a two-state solution at bay.”
He said, “I declare that France recognizes the state of Palestine today.”
As Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 65, 300 Palestinians and destroyed the enclave, intensified after its recognition of its status by Australia, Canada, Portugal, and the United Kingdom on Sunday.
Madrid also sanctioned Israel for its occupation of Gaza, and Spain, Norway, Ireland, and Norway all granted Palestinian statehood last year.
When one of those two states’ population is the victim of a genocide, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the summit that a two-state solution was “not possible.”
We must put an end to this slaughter because the Palestinian people are being annihilated, Sanchez said in the name of reason, international law, and human dignity.
Macron also laid out a plan for the establishment of a “renewable Palestinian Authority,” which would allow France to establish an embassy in accordance with reforms, a ceasefire, and the release of all Palestinian prisoners who are still imprisoned in Gaza.
A Palestinian Authority (PA) would be assisting in bringing back control of Gaza, according to the framework’s plan for an International Stabilization Force (ISF).
The French decision was hailed as a “historical and courageous decision” by the PA.
The friendly Republic of France recognized the State of Palestine in a historic and courageous decision that is in line with international law and UN resolutions, according to a statement from the Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry in Ramallah.
Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, described the summit as a “circus circus,” and the two countries are becoming increasingly isolated on the issue.
A right, not a reward
After years of failed negotiations and persistent violations on the ground, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres once more reaffirmed his support for the two-state solution.
Guterres refuted US and Israeli claims that it was a reward for Hamas, saying that statehood for Palestinians is “a right, not a reward.”
Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, thanked Macron and the UN chief for their efforts to find a two-state solution, calling it “the only way to reach just and lasting peace.”
He claimed that the conference, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, comes at a time when “Israel continues to violate its” rights to Palestinians in Gaza, and Israel continues to violate its”violences in the West Bank, and its repeated attacks on Arab and Muslim nations, with the most recent attack on Qatar.
These actions “underline Israel’s insistence on continuing aggressive behavior that threatens regional and international stability and undermines efforts to achieve peace in the region,” he said.
The US, Israel’s closest ally, has criticized Western governments’ recent support of Palestine, with Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, earlier saying that the move will “empower]Hamas] and make it more difficult to end the war.
A “movement building up”
Palestinian recognition extends beyond symbolic meaning, according to Sultan Barakat, a professor at Qatar’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University. It also embodies “some real, practical support for the cause of Palestine.”
We should just keep moving because this is yet another crack in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
More than 140 world leaders are expected to attend the UNGA, which is expected to have Palestine on top of its agenda. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Palestine, will not be able to attend because the US has denied him a visa.
Abbas demanded an immediate ceasefire and the arrival of humanitarian aid in Gaza, where more than 400 people have died from starvation since Israel imposed its punishing blockade in September 2023, in his videolink address to the conference on Monday.
According to Hashem Ahelbarra, a journalist for the UN’s New York office, there is already a sway building for UN leaders to discuss a two-state solution, which calls for a sovereign Palestinian state to live alongside Israel.
The US administration, which does not appear to be willing to go down that path, must give them a nod, he said, adding that the only issue they have is that establishing a viable Palestinian state.
This is a “trying effort to push for a new political order to prevail in the near future,” according to many European leaders. It is not a symbolic gesture. They claim to have the power to ultimately put an end to the Gaza war, he continued.
White House spokesman Karoline Leavitt stated on Monday that Hamas is rewarded for recent recognition of the state of Palestine by several Western nations.
The president has stated in the president disagrees with this statement without saying a word. He mentioned that in the UK, saying that, in the UK, “he believes it is a reward for Hamas” and that more than 40 Israeli prisoners are still being held in Gaza. He stated that this does not do anything to bring this conflict to an end.
Source: Aljazeera
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