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Macron Announces France Will Recognize Palestinian Statehood

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by blueapples
Friday, Jul 25, 2025 - 11:00

Although the United States continues to maintain its unyielding support for Israel, ongoing opposition to the war in Gaza has led to a seismic shift from other once-staunch allies of the Jewish state. The United Kingdom, which led the Zionist cause for the creation of Israel beginning in 1917 with the issuance of the Balfour Declaration, suspended trade negotiations with Israel in May in a rare show of diplomatic opposition. That decision came just one day after the UK joined France and Canada in a joint statement condemning Israel's continued aggression in the Gaza Strip. That joint statement served as part of a continuum of France's outspokenness against Israel which has become amplified in the last year. A landmark decision by French President Emmanuel Macron signals that fallout has reached its apotheosis. President Macron announced that France intends to recognize Palestinian statehood come September at the next meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. France's decision to recognize a Palestinian state signals a paradigm shift in European diplomacy with Israel.

President Emmanuel Macron has officially declared French recognition of Palestinian statehood.

With Macron's announcement, France becomes the 14th European nation and the 148th of 193 UN member states to recognize Palestinian statehood. In 2014, Sweden became the first member of the European Union to recognize Palestine as a state, though Cyprus had done so in 1988 before it joined the EU in 2004. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia each originally acknowledged Palestine's statehood by virtue of their alliances with the former Soviet Union. While other European states remained reticent since Sweden's 2014 declaration, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Slovenia, and Spain each official recognized Palestinian statehood in 2024 in response to the onslaught Israel has unleashed in Gaza.

France's decision was announced in a letter sent to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by Macron. “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 wrote in the letter, which was subsequently published to the public. “I will make this solemn announcement at the United Nations General Assembly next September,” he added. Macron reiterated the urgency of ending the war in Gaza, highlighting the immeasurable horror it has taken on Palestinian civilians.

However, Macron's announcement was not without caveats that have long stood as impasses toward reaching a resolution to the war. “We must finally build the State of Palestine, ensure its viability, and enable it, by accepting its demilitarization and fully recognizing Israel, to contribute to the security of all in the Middle East,” he wrote on social media. The demilitarization of Gaza has been a contentious point in ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which Israel withdrew from the latest round held in Doha on Thursday.

United States President Donald Trump characterized the latest negotiations as the "final proposal" for a deal to end the war. Steve Witkoff, the US Special Envoy to the Middle East, remarked on the conclusion to yet another unsuccessful round of negotiations, stating, “We have decided to bring our team home from Doha for consultations after the latest response from Hamas, which clearly shows a lack of desire to reach a ceasefire in Gaza. While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be coordinated or acting in good faith." Hamas officials contend that Israel's opposition to ending its military offensive in Gaza following a 60-day ceasefire proposed during the negotiations was what led to a breakdown in negotiations.

Although Israeli officials maintain that the decision to leave the negotiating table in Doha does not signal the end of talks with Hamas, their response to Macron's recognition of the Palestinian state cast an ominous shadow over any optimism for peace in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu characterized France's decision as rewarding terrorism, claiming it would turn Gaza into a site for Iranian proxies to annihilate Israel. “Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they seek a state instead of Israel,” he proclaimed.

While France's position on relations with Israel has changed, the US used Macron's announcement as an opportunity to reaffirm its unconditional support. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called France's recognition of a Palestinian state a "reckless decision," which he further characterized as an affront to the victims of the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas. Under Rubio's leadership as Secretary of State, the US has upped its efforts to oppose support for Palestine both at home and abroad. These measures have included persecuting protesters against Israel in the US as enemies of the state and threatening foreign nations supporting Palestine with political repercussions.

In June, Reuters obtained leaked diplomatic cables from US officials that reiterated their vehement opposition to international recognition of Palestinian statehood. The cable was leaked as the suggestion that France would recognize Palestine as a legitimate state gained credence  ahead of Macron's announcement making the measure official. "The United States opposes any steps that would unilaterally recognize a conjectural Palestinian state, which adds significant legal and political obstacles to the eventual resolution of the conflict and could coerce Israel during a war, thereby supporting its enemies," the cable read, going on to equate contraries taking what it deemed "anti-Israel actions" with actively opposing US foreign policy interests. The cable also warned foreign nations that they would face diplomatic consequences from the US if they chose to act against the interests of Israel.

Despite the paradigm shift that France's decision to recognize Palestinian statehood represents, the US' stalwart support for Israel has only served to embolden its conduct that other global powers have decried. A rash of violence in the West Bank led by Jewish settlers sparked a pogrom against the territory's Christian population centered in the village of Taybeh, where they burned the Byzantine-era Saint George Greek Orthodox Church. The arson led to an outcry against Israel by the international community, even prompting sycophantic US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee to visit Taybeh. "It's unacceptable to commit an act of sacrilege by desecrating a place that is supposed to be a place of worship." Huckabee told reporters.

Despite eliciting criticism from US officials, Israel remained undeterred from its ambitions to annex the West Bank as the Knesset passed a non-binding motion in favor of doing so by a vote of 71-13. While the motion was ceremonial and does not legally force the Netanyahu government to annex the West Bank, it signifies the brazen disregard that Israel has for any pressure from the international community to cease its erasure of the Palestinian people from the territories it sees as part of Greater Israel.

While France is the largest actor on the world stage to officially recognize Palestinian statehood, the decision does little to change the balance of power that maintains Israel's effective hegemony over Gaza and the West Bank. The power dynamic between the US and Israel represents a proverbial Gordian Knot that must be untangled to establish a legitimate Palestinian state. Given the US' unwavering support for Israel, the inconceivable task of untangling diplomatic ties between the nations renders the realization of Palestinian statehood virtually impossible, regardless of how much the rest of the world stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine.

Contributor posts published on Zero Hedge do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Zero Hedge, and are not selected, edited or screened by Zero Hedge editors.
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