The United States and some European countries believe that the decision to officially recognize an independent Palestinian state is inappropriate at the current time and manner, following the decision of 3 European countries to take this step.
The White House said on Wednesday that US President Joe Biden believes that the establishment of a Palestinian state must be achieved through negotiations and not through recognition by individual parties.
A National Security Council spokesman at the White House said that President Biden is a strong supporter of the two-state solution and has been so throughout his career.
He added that he believes that the Palestinian state must be achieved through direct negotiations between the two parties and not through recognition by individual parties.
The American response came after Ireland, Spain and Norway said today that they would recognize a Palestinian state this month.
For his part, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry stressed Berlin’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but through dialogue.
The speaker was responding to a question from a journalist today regarding the decision of European countries to recognize the State of Palestine.
“An independent Palestinian state remains a firm goal of German foreign policy,” the spokesman said at a regular press conference in Berlin, adding that achieving this goal must be through dialogue.
Inappropriate time
In turn, French Foreign Minister Stephane Ségornet said that conditions are not yet ripe for recognition of a Palestinian state, following other European countries announcing such a step in the hope of advancing the peace process in the region.
Sigourney added in a statement that this is not a symbolic issue or a matter related to a political position, but rather a diplomatic tool in order to reach a solution based on two states living side by side in peace and security.
He added that France does not consider that conditions are suitable at the present time for this decision to have a tangible impact on this process.
In a post on the “X” platform, the French minister said that he assured his Israeli counterpart, Yisrael Katz, that France’s priorities are the immediate release of the hostages held in Gaza, including 3 Frenchmen, a ceasefire and massive humanitarian aid, and two countries living in peace and security.
France’s position was similar to that of the United Kingdom, as British Treasury Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that the time was not appropriate for his country to recognize the State of Palestine.
But Hunt pointed out that London would keep the file “under review” and would accept the same step when it would serve the peace process.
Formal recognition
Following the announcement by Ireland, Norway and Spain on Wednesday morning of recognition of the Palestinian state, the Israeli Foreign Ministry decided to summon the ambassadors of the three countries to Tel Aviv to protest.
Before this development, 8 member countries of the European Union recognized the State of Palestine: Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, the Greek Cypriot administration, and Sweden.
With the recognition of the three European countries, the number of countries that recognized the State of Palestine increased to 147 countries out of 193 member states in the United Nations General Assembly.
Palestine is an observer state in the United Nations but is not a member, according to the resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on November 29, 2012.
Israel and its ally, the United States, reject the recognition of the Palestinian state by other individual countries, and oppose Palestine’s efforts to obtain full membership in the United Nations instead of the “non-member observer state” status that has been in place since 2012.
Last April, Washington used its veto power in the UN Security Council against a draft resolution recommending that the United Nations accept membership of the State of Palestine.
The recognition of the State of Palestine by Norway, Spain, and Ireland comes at a time when Israel has been waging a war on Gaza since October 7, 2023, which has left more than 115,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women.
