Macron says France could recognise Palestinian state in June

 French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday France could recognise a Palestinian state in June, adding that in turn some countries in the Middle East could recognise the state of Israel.

"We need to move towards recognition (of a Palestinian state). And so over the next few months, we will. I'm not doing it to please anyone. I'll do it because at some point it will be right," he said during a interview on France 5 television.

"And because I also want to take part in a collective dynamic that should also enable those who defend Palestine to recognise Israel in their turn, something that many of them are not doing."

Even though Palestine has been recognised as a sovereign state by almost 150 countries, most major Western powers have not, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Japan.

Among countries that do not recognize Israel are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

"Our objective is somewhere in June, with Saudi Arabia, to chair this conference where we could finalise the movement towards reciprocal recognition by several countries," Macron said. 

'No one will invest a cent'

France's recognition of Palestinian statehood "would be a step in the right direction in line with safeguarding the rights of the Palestinian people and the two state solution," Palestinian minister of state for foreign affairs Varsen Aghabekian Shahin told news agency AFP.

 In May 2024, Ireland, Norway and Spain announced recognition, followed by Slovenia in June, in moves partly fuelled by condemnation of Israel's bombing of Gaza that followed the October 7 attacks.

But France would be the most significant European power to recognise a Palestinian state, a move the United States has also long resisted.

In Egypt, Macron held summit talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah II and also made clear he was strongly opposed to any displacement or annexation in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

US President Donald Trump has suggested turning Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East" with the Palestinians moving elsewhere -- a suggestion that has sparked bitter condemnation.

Macron responded that the Gaza Strip was "not a real estate project."

"Simplistic thinking sometimes doesn't help," he added, and, in a message to Trump said: "Perhaps it would be wonderful if one day it developed in an extraordinary way, but our responsibility is to save lives, restore peace, and negotiate a political framework."

"If all this doesn't exist, no one will invest. Today, no one will invest a cent in Gaza," he said.