NEW YORK (BN24) — France recognized Palestinian statehood Monday at the opening of a high-profile United Nations meeting aimed at galvanizing international support for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict, as the Gaza war continues to rage with little prospect for immediate resolution.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement in the U.N. General Assembly hall received sustained applause from more than 140 world leaders in attendance. The Palestinian delegation, including U.N. ambassador Riyad Mansour, stood and applauded as the declaration was made, while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was seen applauding via live camera feed after being denied a U.S. visa to attend in person.
“True to the historic commitment of my country to the Middle East, to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, this is why I declare that today, France recognizes the state of Palestine,” Macron said during his address to the assembly.
The recognition follows similar announcements by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal on Sunday, with Palestinians expecting a total of 10 countries to formally recognize statehood in the coming days. The coordinated timing suggests a diplomatic strategy to build momentum for Palestinian recognition despite opposition from Israel and the United States.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres emphasized that “statehood for the Palestinians is a right, not a reward,” appearing to push back against Israeli government arguments that recognition rewards Hamas following its October 7 attack that triggered the current Gaza conflict two years ago.
The meeting and expanded recognition of Palestinian statehood are expected to have minimal immediate impact on conditions in Gaza, where Israel continues waging a major military offensive, or in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlement expansion continues.
Abbas addressed the meeting by video link after he and dozens of other senior Palestinian officials were denied U.S. visas to attend the conference. The visa denials reflect the Trump administration’s hardline stance against Palestinian diplomatic initiatives and its strong support for Israeli positions.
Palestinians in Gaza welcomed the international recognition despite their desperate circumstances. “This is a beginning, or a glimmer of hope, for the Palestinian people,” said Fawzi Nour al-Deen as he joined thousands fleeing south from Gaza City. “We are a people who deserve to have a state.”
Around three-fourths of the 193-member United Nations already recognizes Palestine, but major Western nations had previously declined to do so, maintaining that statehood could only emerge through direct negotiations with Israel. The recent wave of recognition represents a significant shift in Western diplomatic approaches to the conflict.
The creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel encompassing the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, remains widely viewed internationally as the only viable path to resolving the century-old conflict that predates Hamas’s recent attack by decades.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government opposed Palestinian statehood even before the current war and has characterized recognition efforts as rewarding Hamas, the militant group that still controls portions of Gaza. Netanyahu has suggested Israel might respond with unilateral measures, including annexing parts of the West Bank, which would further complicate prospects for a viable Palestinian state.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric dismissed Israeli threats, arguing that efforts toward a two-state solution should continue regardless of Israeli actions. “I think we have to be determined in achieving the goal that we want to achieve, and we cannot be distracted by threats and intimidation,” he said.
Netanyahu faces pressure from his far-right coalition partners to proceed with West Bank annexation, but the United Arab Emirates, which drove the 2020 Abraham Accords normalizing relations between Israel and four Arab states, has called annexation a “red line” without specifying potential consequences for bilateral ties.
The Israeli leader plans to decide on his response to the Palestinian statehood recognition campaign after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House next week, their fourth meeting since Trump’s return to office. Netanyahu is scheduled to address world leaders at the U.N. on Friday.
The Trump administration opposes the growing recognition of Palestinian statehood and blames such moves for derailing ceasefire negotiations with Hamas. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff withdrew from talks in July, and an Israeli strike earlier this month targeted Hamas negotiators in Qatar, a key mediator in the peace process.
Palestinian political fragmentation complicates statehood efforts. Abbas’s internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the West Bank, remains rivals with Hamas and maintains cooperation with Israel on security matters while supporting a two-state solution.
France and Saudi Arabia have promoted a phased plan under which a reformed Palestinian Authority would eventually govern both the West Bank and Gaza with international assistance. The General Assembly overwhelmingly supported this proposal on September 12 by a vote of 142-10, with 12 abstentions.
Israel questions the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to peace and accuses it of inciting militancy, while many Palestinians view the West Bank leadership as corrupt and increasingly autocratic. Hamas, which won the last Palestinian national elections in 2006, has occasionally suggested it might accept a state based on 1967 borders but formally remains committed to Palestinian control over all territory between the Mediterranean Sea and Jordan River, including Israel.
Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations brokered by the United States began in the early 1990s but repeatedly stalled due to violence outbreaks and continued Israeli settlement expansion aimed at cementing control over the West Bank. No substantive peace talks have occurred since Netanyahu returned to office in 2009.
Advocates of the two-state solution argue that without Palestinian statehood, Israel must choose between maintaining the current situation, where millions of Palestinians live under military occupation without equal rights, or accepting a binational state that might not retain a Jewish majority.
The international push for Palestinian recognition reflects growing frustration with the lack of progress in peace negotiations and the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. However, the recognition campaign faces strong opposition from the United States and Israel, which maintain that unilateral recognition undermines the negotiation process.
The timing of the recognition announcements coincides with ongoing diplomatic efforts to revive peace processes that have remained dormant for over a decade. The coordinated nature of the recognition suggests international consensus is building around Palestinian statehood despite regional complexities.
French recognition carries particular weight given France’s historical involvement in Middle Eastern affairs and its position as a permanent U.N. Security Council member. Macron’s announcement reinforces European Union trends toward supporting Palestinian statehood recognition.
The meeting represents one of the most significant diplomatic initiatives focused on Palestinian statehood in recent years, bringing together world leaders to address a conflict that has defied resolution for generations despite numerous international peace efforts.
