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President Emmanuel Macron says France plans to recognize a Palestinian state before the United Nations General Assembly convenes in September. The move comes as Gaza ceasefire negotiations have broken down again. Macron says there is no alternative as the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza worsens and the few living Israeli hostages languish. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports from Paris.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Macron's comments on X Thursday night were met with fury by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said the move rewards terror and could turn Gaza into a, quote, "launchpad to annihilate Israel." President Trump, speaking to reporters before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House was more dismissive than angry. He poo-pooed Macron's move.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Here's the good news - what he says doesn't matter, you know?
BEARDSLEY: But world anger is mounting as the situation in Gaza becomes more desperate. Hundreds of Gazans have also been killed at the new food distribution points run by the IDF and U.S. contractors. Gerard Araud is a former French ambassador to the U.S., Israel and the U.N. He says recognizing a Palestinian state is just part of a bigger plan.
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GERARD ARAUD: What the French are doing, it's not a one-shot or cognition of a Palestinian state. Actually, there is all a diplomatic demarche behind it.
BEARDSLEY: A demarche that began with a June 9 letter to Macron from Mahmoud Abbas in which the Palestinian authority president condemned the Hamas attacks of October 7 and committed to recognizing the legitimacy of Israel, disbanding Hamas, accepting a demilitarized Palestinian state, and holding free elections in 2026. Araud says French and Saudi ministers meeting next week want to take the next step and create a roadmap for peace.
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ARAUD: In terms of rebuilding of Gaza, in terms of integrating Israel in the Middle East. So it will be a global roadmap.
BEARDSLEY: Araud knows the reasons the plan could fail are many - a far-right government in Israel, Hamas entrenched in Gaza and an unpredictable American president. He says France must try, but it's not naive.
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ARAUD: We do know that nothing is possible without the United States.
BEARDSLEY: Israeli Ofer Bronchtein is a longtime peace advocate. He once advised Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who steered Israel toward a two-state peace solution with its Palestinian neighbors until he was assassinated in 1995. Today, Bronchtein advises President Macron on Israeli-Palestinian relations.
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OFER BRONCHTEIN: It's right time.
BEARDSLEY: It's the right time, he says, because only a political solution will bring peace. Bronchtein believes October 7 would not have happened had there been a Palestinian state.
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BRONCHTEIN: I have no doubt about it. The best way to fight terrorism is to have a responsibility by the Palestinian.
BEARDSLEY: Bronchtein says he has no doubt other European and G7 countries like the U.K., Australia and Canada will sign on, and he says they have commitments from many Arab and Muslim nations that once the war ends, they, too, will recognize Israel. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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