On July 23, a decisive meeting took place in Berlin between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, focusing on the Gaza crisis and laying the groundwork for an unprecedented European diplomatic move - recognition of a Palestinian state in the near future. This was reported by The New York Times, which interviewed dozens of officials and diplomats who revealed frantic and sometimes uncoordinated efforts to resolve the Palestinian issue. According to the report, a key part of the effort was an 'eight-point plan,' secretly formulated by British officials over the past six months and sent to European leaders on July 29 by Jonathan Powell, Starmer's national security advisor. In Europe, they claimed that 'it is impossible to wait for Trump to restrain Israel,' detached themselves from the US and initiated the move.