French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday reiterated Paris’s demand for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, speaking ahead of a June 17-20 summit in New York aimed at establishing “Palestine” without Israel’s involvement.
The conference, co-hosted with Saudi Arabia, will give “fresh impetus to the recognition of a Palestinian state and the recognition of the State of Israel and its right to live in peace and security in this region,” he stated during a visit to Indonesia as part of a three-day tour of Southeast Asia.
“Only a political solution will make it possible to restore peace and build for the long term,” Macron declared, speaking alongside his Indonesian counterpart, President Prabowo Subianto, according to France 24.
Macron issued a joint statement with Prabowo that said the upcoming conference in New York should “should allow for an irreversible path towards the realization of a Palestinian state [and] mutual recognition between Israel and Palestine,” France 24 reported.
Israelis from across the political divide have united in their opposition to a Palestinian state in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist massacre of 1,200 people, primarily civilians, in southern Israel.
In February 2024, the Knesset plenum voted 99-11 to back a Cabinet decision to reject any unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood.
All coalition members and most lawmakers of the Zionist opposition parties voted to support the Cabinet statement against “international diktats regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians.”
The Israeli government has recently warned some key European nations that any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state could prompt Jerusalem to extend sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer reportedly told France, the United Kingdom and other countries that the move could lead Israel to annex Area C of Judea and Samaria and legalize outposts.
“Unilateral moves against Israel will be met with unilateral moves by Israel,” Sa’ar told his counterparts, the Israel Hayom daily reported.
“There was a Palestinian state. It was called Gaza,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained on Feb. 6. “Look what we received. The biggest massacre since the Holocaust. To establish a Palestinian state after Oct. 7 is a huge prize, not only for Hamas [but also] for Iran.”
Benny Gantz, who leads Israel’s opposition National Unity Party and served as defense minister and as a member of the country’s War Cabinet, earlier this week called the French initiative “useless.”
“I don’t think it’s the right thing to do,” Gantz told JNS during a meeting of his political faction at the Knesset on Monday. He added, “We must remember the security considerations we have around us, they were there before Oct. 7, and they are definitely there after Oct. 7.”
An Arab opinion poll published last year showed that nearly two-thirds of Palestinians in Gaza, Judea and Samaria prefer Hamas to be part of, or even lead, a government that would control the Strip after the war.
Some 71% of Israelis oppose establishing a Palestinian state that would include Judea and Samaria, according to a survey published on Jan. 29. Nearly 70% want to extend Israeli sovereignty over the disputed area.
However, in an interview with the France 5 channel on April 9, Macron said that “we must move towards recognition” of a Palestinian state, adding that his government would “do so in the coming months.”
“Our aim is to chair this conference with Saudi Arabia in June, where we could finalize this movement of mutual recognition by several parties,” he said, referencing the upcoming international summit in New York.
“I won’t do it for unity or in order to please someone. I’ll do it because I think that at some point it would be fair. And also because I want to take part in a collective dynamic—one that allows everyone who defends Palestine to also recognize Israel,” added Macron.