World summit to meet on two-state solution as support grows for Palestinian state

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By John Irish and Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -France and Saudi Arabia will convene dozens of world leaders on Monday to rally support for a two-state solution, with several of them expected to formally recognise a Palestinian state – a move that could draw harsh Israeli and U.S. responses.

While the summit could boost the morale of Palestinians, it is not expected to deliver change on the ground, where the most far-right government in Israel’s history has declared there will be no Palestinian state as it pushes on with its war against Hamas in Gaza.

The two-state solution was the bedrock of the U.S.-backed peace process ushered in by the 1993 Oslo Accords. The process suffered heavy pushback from both sides and has all but died.

Israel and the United States will boycott the summit, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon, said, describing the event as a “circus.” 

Britain, Canada, Australia and Portugal all recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday. France and five other states are expected to also formally do so on Monday. 

   While the majority of European countries now recognise a Palestinian state, both Germany and Italy have signalled they are unlikely to make such a move soon.

Germany — long a strong supporter of Israel because of its responsibility for the Holocaust — has grown more critical of Israeli policy, while insisting that recognition of a Palestinian state should come at the end of a political process to agree on a two-state solution.

The German government spokesperson said on Monday there must be no further annexations in Israeli-occupied territory.

Italy said recognising a Palestinian state could be “counterproductive”. 

ISRAELI RESPONSE MAY INCLUDE WEST BANK ANNEXATION

Israel is considering annexing part of the occupied West Bank as a possible response as well as specific bilateral measures against Paris, Israeli officials have said, even though the recognitions are expected to be largely symbolic.

Annexation could backfire and alienate key countries like the United Arab Emirates, a global oil power and trade hub with wide diplomatic clout across the Middle East.

The United Arab Emirates, the most prominent of the Arab states that normalised ties with Israel under the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020, has said such a move would undermine the spirit of the agreement.

“That is why we came on record saying that annexation is a red line for my Government because it strikes at the very heart of what the Abraham Accords were meant to achieve,”

Lana Nusseibeh, minister of state at the UAE foreign affairs ministry, told the BBC on Monday.

Norway recognised a Palestinian state jointly with Spain and Ireland in 2024. But Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide was cautious about the latest statehood recognitions.

“Palestine is at a turning point, and we are at a crossroads. While international political support for a two-state solution has rarely been stronger, the situation on the ground is worse than ever,” said Eide.

The U.S. administration has also warned of possible consequences for those who take measures against Israel, including against France, whose president, Emmanuel Macron, is hosting the New York summit.

The summit, ahead of this week’s United Nations General Assembly, follows Israel’s launch of a long-threatened ground assault on Gaza City with few prospects for a ceasefire two years after Palestinian Islamist militants Hamas attacked Israel, triggering the war in the Palestinian enclave.

FRANCE SAYS DECLARATION IS A REJECTION OF HAMAS

Amid Israel’s intensified Gaza offensive and escalating violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, there is a growing sense of urgency to act now before the idea of a two-state solution vanishes forever.

“The decision that the President of the Republic will present this afternoon to the United Nations General Assembly is a symbolic, immediate, political decision that demonstrates France’s commitment to the two-state solution,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told television channel TF1.

France has driven the move, hoping that Macron’s announcement in July that he would recognise a Palestinian state would give greater momentum to a movement hitherto dominated by smaller nations that are generally more critical of Israel.

Palestinian and Israeli flags were projected onto the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Sunday night.

Some countries have said normalisation of diplomatic ties would be phased and dependent on how the Palestinian Authority advances in its promises to reform.

In Gaza, some Palestinians found little relief in statehood recognition as they fled Israeli attacks on Gaza City on Sunday.

“Even if countries such as Australia, Canada, and France —who are now among those initiating this recognition — acknowledge Palestine, I believe there will still be no serious pressure on Israel to grant the Palestinians their rights,” said displaced Palestinian Nabeel Jaber. 

PALESTINIANS REFUSED VISAS TO US

In Tel Aviv, Israelis said the Palestinians turned down many chances to establish a state in the past.

“We’ve offered them peace about five times. They could have agreed to any one of those, and they never, ever chose peace. So why do we need to choose peace with people who want to kidnap, murder, rape our people? I don’t think we need to do that,” said film student Tamara Raveh, 25.

(Reporting by John Irish in Paris and Michelle Nichols at United Nations; additional reporting by Dominique Vidalon in Paris, Maha El Dahan in Dubai, Reuters television in Gaza and the West Bank and Gwladys Fouche in Oslo; Writing by John Irish, Michelle Nichols and Michael GeorgyEditing by Howard Goller, Lincoln Feast and Sharon Singleton)