French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday that France is likely to formally recognize a Palestinian state in the near future, potentially as early as June during a joint French-Saudi conference scheduled to take place in New York.
“We must move toward recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,” Macron, who this week visited Egypt, told France 5 television.
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French President Emmanel Macron greets Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
(Photo: Reuters)
According to Macron, French recognition could prompt countries that currently support the Palestinians to also recognize Israel.
“Our aim is to chair this conference with Saudi Arabia in June, where we could finalize this movement of mutual recognition (of a Palestinian state) by several parties,” he added. “I will do it (...) because I believe that at some point it will be right and because I also want to participate in a collective dynamic, which must also allow all those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in turn, which many of them do not do."
The French president also said that such recognition would allow France “to be clear in our fight against those who deny Israel’s right to exist — which is the case with Iran — and to commit ourselves to collective security in the region,” he added.
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Should France follow through, it would join a growing list of countries that have recognized Palestinian statehood during the current war. In June 2024, Armenia announced it would join 147 other UN member states in recognizing Palestine. That same month, four European nations—Norway, Ireland, Spain and Slovenia—declared their recognition despite sharp Israeli opposition. In response, the Knesset overwhelmingly passed a declaration opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In June 2023, far-right French politician Jordan Bardella of the National Rally party acknowledged that “a Palestinian state has rights, but also responsibilities,” but warned that recognizing it at this stage would be tantamount to legitimizing terrorism and politically endorsing an entity whose founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel.
Macron has long expressed support for a two-state solution. In 2017, he stated that France would continue working with the United Nations toward a resolution that includes both Israel and the Palestinians living side by side within internationally recognized borders. He also said at the time that “Jerusalem should be the capital of both states.”