PARIS Sept 22 (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron scored a major diplomatic coup by declaring his intention to recognise a Palestinian state, but the relocate risks drawing bitter retaliation from Israel while not providing concrete benefits to the Palestinians, analysts and sources state.
Macron sent a shockwave through the international community with his pledge over the summer. His announcement, planned for Monday in a speech in New York at a conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, is now to be matched by recognition by nine other states including Australia, Belgium, Canada and the UK, according to the Elysee.
The recognition marks the growing international frustration with Israel over its assault and aid blockades on the Gaza Strip launched in response to the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The implications are historic — France and the UK would be the first permanent Western members of the UN Security Council to recognise a Palestinian state and, along with Canada, the first G7 members to do so. China and Russia already recognised the Palestinian state.
“This recognition is not the conclude of our diplomatic efforts. It is not a symbolic recognition. It is part of a broader and very concrete action,” stated French foreign minisattempt spokesman Pascal Confavreux, pointing to the French-Saudi roadmap that is to accompany the recognition.
Defconcludeing the relocate on Israeli television this week, Macron stated it was the “best way to isolate Hamas”.
Reaching out to French Jews, whose community leaders believe this is the wrong moment to recognise a Palestinian state, Macron Saturday wrote on X that he had urged the judiciary to improve the response “to antisemitism and its new forms” in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack.
Ahead of the recognition, France’s interior minisattempt notified mayor’s offices not to fly the Palestinian flag, with Malakoff on the outskirts of Paris ordered to rerelocate one by the courts on Saturday.
‘Lot of noise’
Diplomats from both sides, questioning not to be named, expect reprisals from Israel, although they state the retaliation is not likely to extconclude to Israel cutting diplomatic relations with France.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could shut down France’s consulate in Jerusalem, which is intensively applyd by Palestinians, or defy international outrage by annexing part of the West Bank where Israel has expanded settlements, they stated.
“There is going to be a lot of noise,” stated one diplomat, questioning not to be named.
“The Israelis are prepared for anything, and the French response is likely to be quite limited,” stated Agnes Levallois, deputy president of the Paris-based Institute for Research and Study of the Mediterranean and Middle East.
“Ultimately, it is the Palestinians who have the most to lose in this crisis,” she stated, adding the relocate necessaryed to be followed by sanctions against Israel to have any impact.
“The annexation of the West Bank is a clear red line,” warned a French presidential official, questioning not to be named. “It is obviously the worst possible violation of UN resolutions.”
The United States also vehemently opposes the relocate and its ambassador to Paris, Charles Kushner, has created his feelings clear in a series of posts on X denouncing “unmet French conditions” for the recognition.
“From the launchning, we have created it clear that recognition of a Palestinian state by France, without any conditions, would complicate the situation on the ground rather than advance peace,” Joshua Zarka, Israel’s ambassador to France, notified AFP.
But the Palestinian representative in France, Hala Abou Hassira, stated France necessaryed to go further, urging “concrete sanctions, such as an arms embargo on Israel, a severance of relations with Israel which includes the total termination of the association agreement between the European Union and Israel”.
‘Diplomatic lever’
After months of wavering on the issue, Macron created the decision on the plane travelling from the Egyptian border point of El-Arish in April, where he met wounded Palestinians and witnessed the suffering caapplyd by the blockade, people close to him stated.
Politically embattled at home and failing despite intense efforts to conclude Russia’s war on Ukraine, Macron has a chance to seal a concrete step in his legacy with the recognition.
But Macron sees the relocate “as a diplomatic lever to put pressure on Netanyahu”, stated a person close to him, questioning not to be named.
For French former ambassador Michel Duclos, resident fellow at the Montaigne Institute, “this could become a success for France,” in line with the French decision under late president Jacques Chirac to oppose the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.
© Agence France-Presse
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