(Reuters) – Several world leaders are expected to formally recognise a Palestinian state on Monday at a summit convened by France and Saudi Arabia, a move Israel says will undermine the prospects of a peaceful ending to the war in Gaza.
While the summit in New York could boost the morale of Palestinians, it is not expected to deliver change on the ground, where the most far-right government in Israel’s history has declared there will be no Palestinian state as it pushes on with its fight against militant group Hamas.
The two-state solution was the bedrock of the U.S.-backed peace process ushered in by the 1993 Oslo Accords. The process suffered heavy pushback from both sides and has all but died.
ISRAELI AMBASSADOR CALLS SUMMIT A ‘CIRCUS’
Israel and the United States will boycott the summit, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon, said, describing the event as a “circus.”
Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal all recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday. France and five other states are expected to also formally do so on Monday at the meeting ahead of the United Nations General Assembly.
While the majority of European countries now recognise a Palestinian state, both Germany and Italy have signalled they are unlikely to make such a move soon.
Germany — long a strong supporter of Israel because of its responsibility for the Holocaust — has grown more critical of Israeli policy, while insisting that recognition of a Palestinian state should come at the end of a political process to agree on a two-state solution.
The German government spokesperson also said on Monday there must be no further annexations in Israeli-occupied territory.
Italy said recognising a Palestinian state could be “counterproductive”.
Russia still believes that a two-state solution is the only way to settle the conflict, the Kremlin said on Monday.
“This remains our approach, and we believe that it is the only possible way to find a solution to this extremely complex, long-standing conflict, which is now perhaps at its most acute and tragic stage in its entire history,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
ISRAELI RESPONSE MAY INCLUDE WEST BANK ANNEXATION
Israel has become isolated and drawn global condemnation over its military conduct in Gaza, where more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health authorities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected numerous calls to end the campaign until Hamas is destroyed and has said he will not recognise a Palestinian state. Netanyahu said in a statement on Sunday he will announce Israel’s response when he returns from the U.S., where he is scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump.
Israel is considering annexing part of the occupied West Bank as a possible response as well as specific bilateral measures against Paris, Israeli officials have said, even though the recognitions are expected to be largely symbolic.
Annexation could backfire and alienate key countries like the United Arab Emirates, a global oil power and trade hub with wide diplomatic clout across the Middle East.
The United Arab Emirates, the most prominent of the Arab states that normalised ties with Israel under the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, has said such a move would undermine the spirit of the agreement.
The U.S. administration has also warned of possible consequences for those who take measures against Israel, including against France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron, is hosting the New York summit.
The summit follows Israel’s launch of a long-threatened ground assault on Gaza City with few prospects for a ceasefire two years after Palestinian Islamist militants Hamas attacked Israel, triggering the war in the Palestinian enclave.
FRANCE SAYS DECLARATION SHOWS COMMITMENT TO TWO-STATE SOLUTION
Amid Israel’s intensified Gaza offensive and escalating violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, there is a growing sense of urgency to act now before the idea of a two-state solution vanishes forever.
“The decision that the President of the Republic will present this afternoon to the United Nations General Assembly is a symbolic, immediate, political decision that demonstrates France’s commitment to the two-state solution,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told television channel TF1.
France has driven the move, hoping that Macron’s announcement in July that he would recognise a Palestinian state would give greater momentum to a movement hitherto dominated by smaller nations that are generally more critical of Israel.
In Gaza, some Palestinians found little relief in statehood recognition as they fled Israeli attacks on Gaza City on Sunday.
“Even if countries such as Australia, Canada, and France —who are now among those initiating this recognition — acknowledge Palestine, I believe there will still be no serious pressure on Israel to grant the Palestinians their rights,” said displaced Palestinian Nabeel Jaber.
In Tel Aviv, Israelis said the Palestinians turned down many chances to establish a state in the past.
“We’ve offered them peace about five times. They could have agreed to any one of those, and they never, ever chose peace. So why do we need to choose peace with people who want to kidnap, murder, rape our people? I don’t think we need to do that,” said film student Tamara Raveh, 25.
