Melike Pala
26 July 2025•Update: 26 July 2025
BRUSSELS
France on Saturday said that recognizing a State of Palestine is an “essential step” on the path to peace and regional stability, reaffirming its commitment to a two-state solution based on international law.
“As France prepares to recognize the State of Palestine, let us recall the recognition of the State of Israel by France on January 24, 1949,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a post on X.
Citing a historic letter from former Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, the ministry emphasized that France’s 1949 recognition of Israel did not prejudge final borders — a principle it now echoes in its approach to recognizing Palestine.
“Three-quarters of a century later, recognizing a State of Palestine is an essential step on the path to peace and regional stability,” it added.
The ministry said that official recognition would help facilitate “indispensable negotiations” between Israelis and Palestinians on final status issues, including borders.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday that Paris would formally recognize Palestine during the UN General Assembly in September.
France is set to become the first member of the G7 — a group of the world’s largest advanced economies — to recognize a Palestinian state. So far, 147 of 193 UN member states officially recognize Palestine.
The move comes amid Israel’s continued offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, which has killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians — most of them women and children — and caused the collapse of Gaza’s health system and severe food shortages.
