France, others to recognize Palestinian state as UN week gets underway

France and other countries are prepared to recognize a Palestinian state as the U.N.'s centerpiece diplomatic week gets underway Monday, following a rash of Western governments in symbolically endorsing statehood and sparking Israel's wrath.

Recognition by Britain, Canada, Australia, and Portugal on Sunday of a Palestinian state piled pressure on Israel as it intensifies its war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands, devastated the enclave, and drawn vocal rebukes from its allies.

President Emmanuel Macron has indicated France will follow suit on Monday as he prepares to host a meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman on the moribund two-state solution -- Palestinian and Israeli coexistence.

"They want a nation, they want a state, and we should not push them towards Hamas," Macron told CBS News's "Face the Nation" Sunday, adding that the move would help isolate the armed group.

He also said he would make the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel a precondition of opening an embassy to the Palestinian state.

Israel's foreign ministry said the recognition moves do not "promote peace, but on the contrary further destabilize the region and undermine the chances of achieving a peaceful solution in the future."

More than 140 world leaders will descend on New York this week for the annual United Nations General Assembly summit, which will be dominated by the question of the future of the Palestinians.

One world leader who will miss the gathering is Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, who Washington denied a visa to attend, along with his officials.

That earned a rebuke from the General Assembly, which will be the focus of world leaders' speeches and the inevitable protest walkouts this week. The assembly voted 145 to five to exceptionally allow Abbas to speak via video link.

The humanitarian catastrophe ravaging the small Palestinian territory will top the agenda, two years after the beginning of the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that was triggered by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

Some diplomats fear Israeli reprisals over the Western push to recognize a Palestinian state in order to kickstart talks on the two-state solution.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday that "a negotiated two-state solution is the path that can allow Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security and dignity."

"For Germany, recognition of a Palestinian state comes more at the end of the process. But this process must begin now," he said ahead of the General Assembly.

AFP