Meloni: Recognizing Palestinian state before it is established may be ‘counterproductive'
'I am very much in favor of the State of Palestine, but I am not in favor of recognizing it prior to establishing it,' Meloni told Italian daily La Repubblica.
'If something that doesn't exist is recognized on paper, the problem could appear to be solved when it isn't,' Meloni added.
France's decision to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September drew condemnation from Israel and the United States, amid the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
On Friday, Italy's foreign minister said recognition of a Palestinian state must occur simultaneously with recognition of Israel by the new Palestinian entity.
A German government spokesperson said on Friday that Berlin was not planning to recognize a Palestinian state in the short term and said its priority now is to make 'long-overdue progress' towards a two-state solution.
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Israel, which faces mounting international pressure over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — where the UN says starvation is taking hold — also boycotted the meeting. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said the wide attendance at the conference proved 'the consensus and the mobilization of the international community around the appeal for an end to the war in Gaza.' He urged participants to view the gathering as 'a turning point — a transformational juncture for implementing the two-state solution.' 'We have begun an unprecedented and unstoppable momentum for a political solution in the Middle East, which is already beginning to bear fruit,' Barrot said, citing tangible steps such as 'recognition of Palestine, normalization and regional integration of Israel, reform of Palestinian governance, and the disarmament of Hamas.' 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Nothing justifies 'the obliteration of Gaza that has unfolded before the eyes of the world,' he said, listing illegal settlement expansion, settler violence, mass displacement and the annexation drive as elements of a 'systemic reality dismantling the building blocks of peace.' He called for an immediate end to unilateral actions undermining a two-state solution, and reaffirmed the UN vision of two sovereign, democratic states living side-by-side in peace, based on pre-1967 borders and with Jerusalem as a shared capital. 'This remains the only framework rooted in international law, endorsed by this Assembly, and supported by the international community,' he said. 'It is the only credible path to a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. And it is the sine qua non for peace across the wider Middle East.'
