PARIS (Dispatches) – France is pushing for other European powers, including the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands, to recognize Palestinian statehood at a UN conference next month.
A French diplomat told Politico on condition of anonymity that President Emmanuel Macron was hoping the announcement at the conference could help restart peace talks between the Palestinians and the Zionist regime.
“The solution is more necessary than ever but it has been more undermined than ever due to the war, the displacement [of Palestinians] and the violence of extremist settlers,” said the diplomat.
He said that Macron had hoped the recognition of Palestine at the conference, which will be co-hosted by Saudi Arabia, could be complemented by a number of Arab states recognizing the Zionist regime.
However, another European diplomat told Politico that at this stage the Arab states wanted “sanctions not statehood”.
Some 147 of 193 UN member states currently recognize the State of Palestine. European states Spain, Ireland and Norway agreed to recognition last year.
French activists dyed a Paris fountain red Wednesday to symbolize the “bloodbath” of Palestinians in Gaza.
Activists from Oxfam and Amnesty International poured dye into the Fontaine des Innocents in the heart of the French capital, while others held placards saying “Cease fire” and “Gaza: stop the bloodbath.”
“This operation aims to denounce France’s slow response to an absolute humanitarian emergency facing the people of Gaza today,” the activists, which included the French branch of Greenpeace, said in a joint statement.
“France cannot limit itself to mere verbal condemnations,” said former minister Cecile Duflot, executive director of Oxfam France.
Clemence Lagouardat, who helped coordinate Oxfam’s humanitarian response in Gaza, denounced the Israeli blockade of the besieged territory.
“The people in Gaza need everything, it’s a matter of survival,” she told AFP.
“There is a genocide going on and political inaction is becoming a kind of complicity in this genocide,” said Jean-Francois Julliard, head of Greenpeace France.
“We call on (President) Emmanuel Macron to act with courage, clarity and determination to put an end to this bloodshed.”
The activists urged states “with influence over Israel” to press for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, an arms embargo on Israel, the revision of a cooperation agreement between the EU and the Zionist regime and other measures.