TanzaniaDays after promising to recognize Palestine as a state, France escalated its efforts to end the deadly Gaza war on Monday by calling on the European Union to encourage Israel to commit to a two-state solution with the Palestinians.
While there is international agreement that the moment for a political resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis is now, world powers must support their statements with deeds, French Foreign Minister Jean-Nol Barrot told reporters at the United Nations.
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On behalf of the EU, the European Commission must outline its goals and demonstrate how we may encourage the Israeli government to consider this request,” he stated.
France and Saudi Arabia are co-chairing a high-level U.N. meeting on a two-state solution to the long-running Israeli-Palestinian issue, and Barrot spoke on the opening day of the gathering. As worldwide condemnation of Israel’s handling of the conflict in Gaza reaches a fever pitch, the conference—which was lowered to the ministerial level and postponed from June—takes place in New York. According to Barrot, delegates from 125 nations, including 50 ministers, are attending the meeting, but Israel and the United States, its closest ally, declined to attend.
“To reverse the trend of what is happening in the region, mainly the erasure of the two-state solution, which has been for a long time the only solution that can bring peace and security in the region,” Barrot stated as the conference’s major goal.
He asked the European Commission to demand that Israel lift a financial embargo on two billion euros that he claims the Israeli government owes the Palestinian Authority, halt the construction of settlements in the West Bank that jeopardizes the future Palestinian state’s territorial integrity, and terminate the U.S.-backed Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s militarized food delivery system in Gaza, which has led to hundreds of deaths.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has opposed the two-state solution for security and nationalistic reasons.
At the annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly in September, French President Emmanuel Macron declared ahead of the conference that France will recognize Palestine as a state. The daring but largely symbolic action is meant to put Israel under more diplomatic strain.
The decision may open the door for other nations to follow suit. France is now the largest Western power and the only one of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations to recognize the state of Palestine. A Palestinian state is recognized by more than 140 nations, including more than a dozen in Europe.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa urged all nations who have not yet acknowledged Palestine as a state to do so right away during the beginning of the summit.
“Recognizing the state of Palestine and protecting it from destruction is the first step towards achieving peace,” he stated.
Normalization between Israel and the Arab governments in the region is the other topic of discussion during the conference. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, emphasized that the creation of a Palestinian state is the only way to normalize relations with Israel.
The world is growing indignant at the starving deaths of Gaza’s famished population. In a rare break with Netanyahu, who has maintained that there is no famine, U.S. President Donald Trump asked for more help to be given to the Palestinians on Monday.
Both Barrot and Farhan stated on Monday that the president in January was responsible for securing the only ceasefire in the 21-month conflict and that the United States is a crucial player in the region.
“I firmly believe that Trump’s engagement can be a catalyst for the immediate crisis in Gaza to end and possibly lead to a long-term resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” Farhan stated.
