The Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, said that Washington “firmly rejects” French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state, while the administration of President Donald Trump announced that it would not attend a next United Nations Conference to ask a two-state solution to the Palestinians.
Position on X late Thursday, Rubio criticized Macron’s “reckless decision”, who said “only served Hamas propaganda and withdraw peace”.
Earlier, Macron had declared that he would formalize France’s decision to officially recognize a Palestinian State in the UN General Assembly in September.
“In accordance with his historical commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, I decided that France will recognize the state of Palestine,” wrote Macron on X.
At least 142 countries out of the 193 UN members recognize or currently plan to recognize a Palestinian state. But several powerful Western countries – including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany – have refused to do so.
The other members of the European Union Norway, Ireland and Spain indicated in May that they had started the process to recognize a Palestinian state.
But Macron’s decision would make France – one of the closest allies of Israel and a member of the G7 – the largest and undoubtedly the most influential country in Europe to take precedence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the decision, saying that such a decision “rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy”.
“A Palestinian state under these conditions would be a launch ramp to destroy Israel-not to live in peace alongside,” he said in an article on X.
“Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel; they are looking for a state instead of Israel,” added Netanyahu.
The Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz also described this decision as “a shame and a surrender to terrorism”. He added that Israel would not allow the creation of a “Palestinian entity which would harm our security, would endanger our existence”.
While supporting a two-state solution remains the long-standing official position of the United States, President Donald Trump himself expressed doubts about his viability. Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has suggested that the United States could “take control” from Gaza, to move the Palestinian population of the territory and transform it into “Riviera du Middle East”.
Trump’s plan was condemned by rights defense of rights, Arab states, Palestinians and the United Nations as “ethnic cleaning”.
In June, Washington’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee also said that he did not think that an independent Palestinian state had remained an American foreign policy.
His comments prompted the spokesperson for the State Department, Tammy Bruce, to say that Huckabee “speaks for himself” and the development of politicians is a question for Trump and the White House.
On Thursday, deputy spokesperson for the State Department, Tommy Pigott, said that the United States will not attend a next conference to be held on the two-state solution. The conference – co -chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, and planned to take place from July 28 to 30 – seeks to draw a roadmap to put an end to the conflict of several decades and recognize a Palestinian state.
Addressing journalists, Pigott said that there was “nothing more” to say about the problem other than Washington “would not be present”.
There is increasing pressure on Israel to put an end to his fatal war against Gaza, carried out following the attacks of October 7, 2023 led by Hamas against southern Israel, which saw some 1,139 people killed and more than 200 captives taken to the Palestinian enclave.
The 21 -month assault of Israel against Gaza resulted in the death of nearly 60,000 Palestinians, with 144,000 others injured.
Several months’ ceasefire negotiations-negotiated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar-have so far not given a breakthrough.
Monday 28 countries – including the United Kingdom, Japan and many European nations – published a joint declaration indicating to Israel the war against Gaza “must end now”.
The joint declaration also condemned “food drips aid and the inhuman murder of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most fundamental needs of water and food”.
