However, the French president clarified that his country, like Portugal, does not recognize Palestine as a state at this time.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced this Tuesday that he will organize in June 2025, together with Saudi Arabia, an international conference on .
“We decided to co-chair next June (…) a conference for the two States (one Israeli, the other Palestinian) with the idea that in the coming months together we will multiply and unite our diplomatic initiatives to take everyone on this path”, highlighted, to French journalists, on the second day of his state visit to Saudi Arabia.
Macron clarified that his country, like Portugal, does not recognize Palestine as a state at this time.
“There is a desire to do it (…), but at a time when it is useful, when it provokes reciprocal movements of recognition”, stressed Macron.
“We want to involve several other partners and allies, European and non-European, who are ready to move in this direction, but who are waiting for France,” he added.
The French head of state did not detail where this conference will take place, but hopes it will serve to “multiply diplomatic initiatives in the coming months to take everyone on the same path.”
Macron also highlighted that the objective is to produce a movement of recognition in relation to Israel, “which allows responses in terms of security” to the Jewish State.
“We must convince that the two-state solution is also relevant for Israel”, added the French President.
Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites, is in talks with Washington to normalize relations with Israel and provide security guarantees to the United States.
But in mid-September, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman withdrew recognition of Israel ahead of the “creation of a Palestinian state” alongside that of Israel.
Netanyahu rejects two states
Both Paris and Riyadh are pushing for the “two-state solution”, rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The situation in the Middle East has deteriorated since the start of the war in Gaza, triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israel that caused around 1,200 deaths and more than two hundred hostages, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities.
After the Hamas attack, Israel launched a large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip, which has already caused more than 44,000 deaths, mostly civilians, and a humanitarian disaster, destabilizing the entire Middle East region.
