French President Emmanuel Macron is leaning towards recognizing a Palestinian state, but diplomats and experts say such a move may prove a premature and ineffective way to pressure Israel into moving toward a peace deal with the Palestinians.
They say it could deepen Western splits, not only within the already-divided European Union, but also with the United States, Israel’s staunchest ally, and would need to be accompanied by other measures such as sanctions and trade bans if recognition were to be anything more than a symbolic gesture.
French officials are weighing up the move ahead of a United Nations conference, which France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting between June 17-20, to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel’s security.
“Only a political solution will make it possible to restore peace and build for the long term,” Macron said on Wednesday during a visit to Indonesia.
“Together with Saudi Arabia, we will soon be organizing a conference on Gaza in New York to give fresh impetus to the recognition of a Palestinian state and the recognition of the State of Israel and its right to live in peace and security in this region,” added Macron.
If Macron does go ahead, France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim communities, would become the first Western heavyweight to recognize a Palestinian state, potentially giving greater momentum to a movement hitherto dominated by smaller nations that are generally more critical of Israel.
“If France moves, several countries will follow,” Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told Reuters.
Macron’s stance has shifted amid Israel’s intensified Gaza offensive against Hamas and escalating violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and there is a growing sense of urgency in Paris to act now before the idea of a two-state solution vanishes forever.
“We must move from words to deeds. Faced with facts on the ground, the prospect of a Palestinian state must be maintained. Irreversible and concrete measures are necessary,” Macron’s Middle East adviser Anne-Claire Legendre said last week.
Diplomats caution that while Macron now favors the move, he has yet to make a final decision, and things could change — including a potential Gaza ceasefire accord — before mid-June.
However, his diplomats are scrambling to ensure the best conditions are in place for him to make the decision, including full assessments at the UN conference on the reform of the Palestinian Authority, disarming Hamas, or future reconstruction.
Israeli officials have spent months lobbying to prevent what some have described as “a nuclear bomb” for bilateral relations.
The idea that France, one of Israel’s closest allies and a G7 member, could recognize a Palestinian state would certainly infuriate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
When Britain and Canada joined France this month to say they could impose concrete measures on Israel and commit to recognizing a Palestinian state, Netanyahu issued a firm rebuke, accusing the leaders of the three countries of antisemitism.
Diplomats say Canada and Britain remain lukewarm for now about recognition, suggesting the priority is to make a difference on the ground, something that may dampen Macron’s ambitions.
According to two sources familiar with the matter, Israel’s warnings to France have ranged from scaling back intelligence sharing to complicating Paris’ regional initiatives — even hinting at possible annexation of parts of the West Bank.
Whether that would materialize seems unlikely, given the likely international fallout fueling one of Israel’s greatest fears: deepening isolation, particularly with regard to Europe, its key trade partner.
“(But) the reaction will be negative across the board (in Israel),” Tamir Hayman, Executive Director at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) told Reuters, adding it would feed a narrative in Israel that the world is against it. “It would be useless and a waste of time.”
Macron strongly backed Israel after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre, when terrorists murdered 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. But he has steadily sharpened his language against Israel over its actions during the subsequent war in Gaza, where the death toll among Palestinians has risen to more than 50,000, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
The figures provided by the ministry cannot be verified and do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 20,000 combatants in battle as of January and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
“We need to move towards recognition. Over the next few months, we will,” Macron said during an interview on April 9.
Even then, he hedged, setting vague conditions and saying he aimed to build momentum with a coalition backing France while nudging Muslim states toward recognizing Israel.
However, there are no indications for now that any new Muslim states — including Saudi Arabia — are ready to move toward normalizing ties with Israel, given the widespread anger over Gaza’s plight.
Macron’s critics argue that recognition should come as part of negotiations toward a two-state solution — not before — and warn that an early move could weaken incentives for Palestinians to engage.
Underlining divisions within the EU, one European diplomat said: “It is our view that this recognition would not be helpful now or encourage more action within the member states.”
Others say recognition must be twinned with other measures such as a Europe-wide ban on trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank — considered illegal by most of the international community — and specific sanctions on Israeli officials.
French officials say they will not be swayed by such criticism or by the Israeli pressure.
“If there is a moment in history to recognize a Palestinian state, even if it’s just symbolic, then I would say that moment has probably come,” said a senior French official, adding that Macron may also want to leave a trace in history before his presidential mandate expires in 2027.