France recognizes Palestine

Washington Post -  French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday his nation will recognize an independent state of Palestine in September at the U.N. General Assembly, a decision that drew praise from Palestinian officials but condemnation from Israel and the United States.

France will become the largest Western power and the first member of the Group of Seven to recognize Palestinian statehood. Its announcement came amid growing reports of starvation in Gaza....

For more than a decade, the Palestinian Authority has pursued full membership of the United Nations, where Palestine was recognized in 2012 as a “permanent observer state.” Full membership, however, requires approval by the U.N. Security Council, where the U.S. has exercised its veto power to block Palestinian statehood.

Eyal Mayroz, senior lecturer in peace and conflict studies at the University of Sydney, said Macron’s move will put additional pressure on other European countries to follow suit — especially Britain, where Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing growing calls from within his party to endorse a Palestinian state.

The Trump administration’s broad support for Israel, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s denunciation of Macron’s decision, make a shift in U.S. policy toward Palestinian statehood very unlikely but not impossible, Mayroz said.