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Eyewitness News
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Israel says recognition of Palestinian state will force 'unilateral actions' in response
JERUSALEM - Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Sunday that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would force Israel to take "unilateral actions", following announcements by several countries that they plan to take such a step. "There have been talks about an initiative to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state... any attempt to do so unilaterally will only harm future prospects for a bilateral process and will push us for unilateral actions in response," Saar said. During a press conference in Jerusalem with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, Saar added that such initiatives were "not constructive but counterproductive" and served "as a prize for Hamas terror". Wadephul meanwhile said that a two-state solution was "the best chance for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security, and dignity". He nonetheless added that it "must not be hindered either by the advancement of illegal settlement construction (by Israel) or by the premature recognition of a Palestinian state". Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris might move to recognise a Palestinian state as early as June at a United Nations conference in New York. "We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months," Macron told France 5 television in an interview. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group whose October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, immediately welcomed the French leader's statement as an "important step". Nearly 150 countries recognise a Palestinian state. In May 2024, Ireland, Norway and Spain took the step to recognise a Palestinian state, followed by Slovenia in June. Their moves were partly fuelled by concern over the high civilian death toll in Israel's devastating offensive in Gaza.
Malaysian Reserve
11-05-2025
- Politics
- Malaysian Reserve
Israel says recognition of Palestinian state will force 'unilateral actions' in response
JERUSALEM – Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Sunday that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would force Israel to take 'unilateral actions', following announcements by several countries that they plan to take such a step. 'There have been talks about an initiative to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state… any attempt to do so unilaterally will only harm future prospects for a bilateral process and will push us for unilateral actions in response,' Saar said. During a press conference in Jerusalem with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, Saar added that such initiatives were 'not constructive but counterproductive' and served 'as a prize for Hamas terror'. Wadephul meanwhile said that a two-state solution was 'the best chance for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security, and dignity'. He nonetheless added that it 'must not be hindered either by the advancement of illegal settlement construction (by Israel) or by the premature recognition of a Palestinian state'. Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris might move to recognise a Palestinian state as early as June at a United Nations conference in New York. 'We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,' Macron told France 5 television in an interview. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group whose October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, immediately welcomed the French leader's statement as an 'important step'. Nearly 150 countries recognise a Palestinian state. In May 2024, Ireland, Norway and Spain took the step to recognise a Palestinian state, followed by Slovenia in June. Their moves were partly fuelled by concern over the high civilian death toll in Israel's devastating offensive in Gaza. –AFP
The Sun
11-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Palestinian state recognition will trigger unilateral actions
JERUSALEM: Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Sunday that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state would force Israel to take 'unilateral actions', following announcements by several countries that they plan to take such a step. 'There have been talks about an initiative to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state... any attempt to do so unilaterally will only harm future prospects for a bilateral process and will push us for unilateral actions in response,' Saar said. During a press conference in Jerusalem with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, Saar added that such initiatives were 'not constructive but counterproductive' and served 'as a prize for Hamas terror'. Wadephul meanwhile said that a two-state solution was 'the best chance for Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace, security, and dignity'. He nonetheless added that it 'must not be hindered either by the advancement of illegal settlement construction (by Israel) or by the premature recognition of a Palestinian state'. Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris might move to recognise a Palestinian state as early as June at a United Nations conference in New York. 'We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months,' Macron told France 5 television in an interview. Hamas, the Palestinian militant group whose October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, immediately welcomed the French leader's statement as an 'important step'. Nearly 150 countries recognise a Palestinian state. In May 2024, Ireland, Norway and Spain took the step to recognise a Palestinian state, followed by Slovenia in June. Their moves were partly fuelled by concern over the high civilian death toll in Israel's devastating offensive in Gaza.
USA Today
23-04-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Macron says France could recognize Palestinian state in June
Macron says France could recognize Palestinian state in June PARIS, April 9 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday France could recognise a Palestinian state in June, adding that in turn some countries in the Middle East could recognise the state of Israel. "We need to move towards recognition (of a Palestinian state). And so over the next few months, we will. I'm not doing it to please anyone. I'll do it because at some point it will be right," he said during a interview on France 5 television. "And because I also want to take part in a collective dynamic that should also enable those who defend Palestine to recognise Israel in their turn, something that many of them are not doing." Even though Palestine has been recognized as a sovereign state by almost 150 countries, most major Western powers have not, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Japan. Among countries that do not recognize Israel are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen. More: 'Tears in my eyes': Family remembers Palestinian American teen killed in the West Bank "Our objective is somewhere in June, with Saudi Arabia, to chair this conference where we could finalise the movement towards reciprocal recognition by several countries," Macron said. (Reporting by Michel Rose and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Rod Nickel)
Jordan Times
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Jordan Times
Palestinian ministry says Israel PM's criticism of Macron an 'unjustified attack'
Palestinian men gather to perform the weekly Muslim Friday near lands confiscated by Israeli authorities from the Palestinian village of Dahriya, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, on April 11, 2025, currently being cleared to build a new road along Israel's controversial separation barrier (AFP photo) RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — The Palestinian foreign ministry on Monday condemned the Israeli prime minister's criticism of French President Emmanuel Macron for announcing that Paris intended to recognise a Palestinian state within months. "The ministry strongly condemns the unjustified attack and offensive remarks made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his son against President Emmanuel Macron," the Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement. "The ministry considers these statements a clear acknowledgement of Netanyahu's ongoing hostility to peace based on the two-state solution, as well as a blatant rejection of international legitimacy and a persistent preference for violence and military solutions over the political path." Macron, in an interview with France 5 broadcast on Wednesday, said that France could take the step during a United Nations conference in New York in June, adding he hoped it would trigger a reciprocal recognition of Israel by Arab countries. "We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months," Macron said. "I will do it because I believe that at some point it will be right and because I also want to participate in a collective dynamic, which must also allow all those who defend Palestine to recognise Israel in turn, which many of them do not do." His remarks sparked a wave of criticism from right-wing groups in France and from Netanyahu and his son Yair Netanyahu. "Screw you!" Yair Netanyahu wrote in English on X late on Saturday, while Netanyahu himself dismissed Macron's remarks. "President Macron is gravely mistaken in continuing to promote the idea of a Palestinian state in the heart of our land -- a state whose sole aspiration is the destruction of Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement. "To this day, not a single figure in Hamas or the Palestinian Authority has condemned the horrors of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust," he said, referring to the October 7, 2023, attack led by Hamas on Israel. He described it as "a silence that reveals their true attitude toward the Jewish state. "We will not endanger our existence over illusions detached from reality, and we will not accept moral lectures about establishing a Palestinian state that would threaten Israel's survival -- especially not from those who oppose granting independence to Corsica, New Caledonia, French Guiana, and other territories, whose independence would pose no threat to France whatsoever."
