Malta will announce its recognition of a Palestinian state during the United Nations General Assembly annual debate in September, Valletta’s prime minister, Robert Abela, said Tuesday evening.
“As a government, we have taken the decision that during the upcoming U.N. General Assembly this September, our country will recognize the State of Palestine,” Abela wrote in a Maltese-language Facebook post.
According to the premier, the move reflects Valletta’s “commitment to finding a solution that promotes lasting peace in the Middle East.”
The decision to recognize “Palestine” was also announced by Malta’s Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Tourism Christopher Cutajar during the French- and Saudi Arabia-led U.N. summit on Palestinian statehood in New York on Tuesday, Abela stated.
Abela first announced his plans for recognition of a Palestinian state in May, saying then it would take place at the United Nations conference.
Representatives of over 55 nations addressed the two-day conference at the U.N. headquarters, which concluded on Tuesday. The U.S. and Israel boycotted the summit due to its unilateral push for a Palestinian state.
Organizers confirmed the goal of the ministerial-level summit was to produce an action-oriented outcome document detailing irreversible steps and concrete measures toward implementing a two-state solution.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told journalists on Tuesday that he intends to recognize “Palestine” unless Israel takes “substantive steps to end the appalling situation” in the Gaza Strip and commits “to a long-term sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly criticized the British move, writing on X that “Starmer rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims.”
“A jihadist state on Israel’s border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW. Appeasement towards jihadist terrorists always fails. It will fail you too. It will not happen,” Netanyahu’s response continued.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Thursday that “consistent with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” he intends to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations.
“I will make this solemn announcement before the U.N. General Assembly this coming September,” he stated. “The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population.”
Netanyahu “strongly” condemned Macron’s decision “to recognize a Palestinian state next to Tel Aviv in the wake of the Oct. 7 massacre.”
“Such a move rewards terror and risks creating another Iranian proxy, just as Gaza became,” Netanyahu stated. “A Palestinian state in these conditions would be a launch pad to annihilate Israel—not to live in peace beside it. Let’s be clear: the Palestinians do not seek a state alongside Israel. They seek a state instead of Israel.”
