PARIS: A moment of truth: That’s how French President Emmanuel Macron sees the recognition of a Palestinian state by France and other Western nations, with the hope to make it a landmark step in his push for peace in the Middle East as the devastating war in Gaza continues.
Macron is to formally declare France’s recognition of a Palestinian state on Monday at a UN conference in New York, as the UN General Assembly starts.
“We have to recognize the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to have a state,” Macron said in an interview broadcast on Israeli television Channel 12.
“If you don’t give a political perspective, in fact, you just put them in the hands of those who are just proposing a security approach, an aggressive approach.”
Macron argues the move is the only way to bring peace and stability to the region as it puts back on the table a two-state solution, in which a Palestinian state would be created alongside Israel in most or all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.
