Germany is not planning to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term and said its priority now is to make “long-overdue progress” towards a two-state solution, a German government spokesperson said on Friday.
“Israel’s security is of paramount importance to the German government,” said the spokesperson. “The German government therefore has no plans to recognise a Palestinian state in the short term.”
France’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September also drew condemnation from Israel and the United States, amid the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Germany’s stance on Israel is strongly influenced by what it regards as a special responsibility to atone for the Nazi Holocaust against European Jews in which six million were killed during Hitler’s 1933-45 regime.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced the decision late Thursday, shortly before British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would hold an emergency call with France and Germany on the humanitarian situation in Gaza on Friday.
Britain’s immediate priority is alleviating suffering in Gaza and securing a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, a cabinet minister said on Friday, even as Starmer came under growing pressure to recognise a Palestinian state.
Italy’s foreign minister said on Friday that recognition of a Palestinian state must occur simultaneously with the recognition of Israel by the new entity.
“A Palestinian state that does not recognise Israel means that the problem will not be resolved,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told a meeting of his conservative Forza Italia party.
France’s move, though symbolic, underlined Israel’s increasing international isolation over its devastating war in Gaza and could open the door for other major nations to perhaps follow suit.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a statement welcoming the French move, credited the leadership of Saudi Arabia with playing “a key role in encouraging France’s decision to recognise the State of Palestine”, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.
“President Abbas urged all countries, especially European nations that have not yet recognised the State of Palestine, to do so based on the internationally endorsed two-state solution,” it cited Abbas as saying.
Saudi Arabia has been pushing France to recognise Palestine over the past year with efforts led by Saudi foreign minister Faisal bin Farhan, said a source close to the royal court.
Palestinians have long sought to create an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem – lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war – through a mediated peace process.
Many accuse Israel of having destroyed Palestinian statehood prospects through increased settlement building in the West Bank and by levelling much of Gaza during the current war.
Israel rejects this.
The Palestine Liberation Organization recognised Israel’s right to exist in peace in 1993 at the start of the U.S.-backed peace process which set up the Palestinian Authority, which Abbas heads, in what Palestinians hoped would be a stepping stone towards statehood.
But Hamas and other Palestinian Islamist militants who dominate Gaza and frequently clash with Israeli forces in the West Bank refuse to recognise Israel.
Hamas’ 1988 founding charter called for the destruction of Israel, although Hamas leaders have at times offered a long-term truce with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state on all Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war. Israel regards this as a ruse.
By Agencies
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