France ‘determined’ to recognise Palestinian state

Paris: France is “determined” to recognise a Palestinian state, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, condemning Israel for the “indefensible” situation in Gaza created by its military campaign and humanitarian blockade.

Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot also reaffirmed that Paris backed a Netherlands-led initiative for a review of the cooperation agreement between the European Union and Israel, which could affect political and economic ties.

President Emmanuel Macron has left open the possibility that France could become the latest European nation to recognise a Palestinian state at a UN conference in June.

“We cannot leave the children of Gaza a legacy of violence and hatred. So all this must stop, and that’s why we are determined to recognise a Palestinian state,” Barrot told France Inter radio. “And I am actively working towards this, because we want to contribute to a political solution in the interest of the Palestinians but also for the security of Israel,” he added.

Barrot was speaking after Macron joined British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a rare joint statement that angered Israel. The statement said that “we will not stand by,” threatened “further concrete actions” if Israel continued to block aid, and said that “We are committed to recognising a Palestinian state.”

Pressed over what these actions could entail, Barrot again urged the EU to agree to the Dutch request to review the association agreement between Israel and the bloc and, in particular, examine if Israel was violating the accord’s commitments on human rights.

He said this raises “the possibility of an eventual suspension” of an accord, which has political as well as commercial dimensions. “Neither Israel or the EU have an interest in ending that accord,” he added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netan­yahu has authorised a limited amount of humanitarian aid after more than two and a half months of a complete blockade of the Palestinian territory, which is facing a catastrophic humanitarian situation. But Barrot said this was “totally insufficient”.

The situation in Gaza is “indefensible because blind violence and the blocking of humanitarian aid by the Israeli government have turned Gaza into a death trap if not a cemetery.” In a warning to Israel, he added: “When you sow violence you harvest violence.”

Gaza’s health ministry said on Monday at least 3,340 people in the Palestinian territory have been killed since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, taking the conflict’s overall toll to 53,486.

The United States has reached out to countries about accepting “voluntary” relocations of Palestinians fleeing Israel’s offensive in Gaza, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday.

Israel has again warned the population of Gaza — nearly entirely displaced since the conflict broke out — to move ahead of a new offensive, which comes after it has blockaded food and supplies for more than two months.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly mused about displacing Gaza’s two million people to make way for reconstruction.

Responding to a question in testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Com­mittee, Rubio said: “There’s no deportation.”

“What we have talked to some nations about is, if someone voluntarily and willingly says, I want to go somewhere else for some period of time because I’m sick, because my children need to go to school, or what have you, are there countries in the region willing to accept them for some period of time?” Rubio said. “Those will be voluntary decisions by individuals,” he said.

Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley replied, if “there is no clean water, there is no food, and bombing is all around you, is that really a voluntary decision?”

Rubio did not say which countries had been approached but denied that Libya was among them. NBC News, quoting anonymous sources, recently reported that Trump’s administration is working on a plan to relocate permanently up to one million Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Libya.