Starmer to Meet Macron and Merz as France Moves to Recognise Palestine State

Updated by Faith Barbara N Ruhinda at 1353 EAT on Friday 25 July 2025

“We knew the risks of being shot or hurt, but still went—for just a kilo of flour.”

Mohammed al-Qedra, receiving treatment at a field hospital in southern Gaza, says the dangers Palestinians face when trying to access aid.

He recounted how he was shot in the hand and leg while attempting to get food for his family at an aid distribution center run by the Israel- and US-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

Mohammed knows the risks, but says he will return to the GHF site as soon as he leaves the hospital, explaining, “I’m the sole breadwinner for the whole family.”

As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and part of the G7, France wields considerable diplomatic influence in the Middle East—far more than other EU countries that have already recognised a Palestinian state.

Germany, the EU’s other major Western power, believes recognition should only come after peace negotiations with Israel conclude, based on a two-state solution.

So far, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia are the only EU member states to have recognised Palestine while being part of the union. President Macron’s announcement is therefore highly significant. Several other European countries, including Poland and Hungary during the communist era, recognised Palestine back in the 1980s.

Belgium, one of Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel during the recent war with Hamas, is still considering the issue and is expected to make a decision in early September.

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever expressed reservations in May, saying he did not think recognition was a sensible step given that “you can’t tell what its borders are, who the authority is, and therefore who to talk to as a partner.”

Does President Macron’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September signify a substantive change? It appears he aims to revitalise the longstanding discourse surrounding a two-state solution, which has increasingly become rhetorical.

However, Israel has unequivocally reaffirmed its determination to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Prime Minister Netanyahu’s stance is unequivocal: he perceives a Palestinian state as a potential threat to the existence of Israel.

Prominent figures on Israel’s ultra-nationalist right, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, are leveraging the current political climate to advocate what Smotrich describes as the “Zionist response to unilateral coercion.”

This entails extending Israeli sovereignty over the territory known domestically as Judea and Samaria, and internationally as the West Bank. The hardline right advocates for the annexation of the occupied West Bank, incorporating it fully into the State of Israel.

Smotrich and his supporters envisage a future in which Palestinians are removed from the occupied territories entirely, consolidating the land as sovereign Jewish territory under full Israeli control.

Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is experiencing sustained pressure from within his party to emulate France’s decision and formally recognise a Palestinian state.

As always, Keir Starmer is navigating a potentially delicate transatlantic diplomatic tightrope.

He is scheduled to speak with Emmanuel Macron later, whose announcement that France will recognise a Palestinian state within months has intensified pressure on the UK’s stance.

Meanwhile, former President Trump is visiting Scotland, following his administration’s criticism of the French decision.

Despite increasing calls within Westminster for the UK to consider recognition, Downing Street has not indicated any intention to alter its position.

In any event, it appears highly unlikely that any change will occur prior to the planned meeting between the Prime Minister and the former President.

Recognition of Palestinian statehood is largely symbolic but carries profound political significance.

It is intended to send a clear message: the only viable path to sustainable peace in the Middle East lies in the two-state solution—a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

When a major European power such as France takes this step, it underscores the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and, for many, rekindles hope that their longstanding aspiration may one day be realised.

However, the current Israeli government remains unequivocal in its rejection of Palestinian statehood.

France’s decision, following similar moves by Spain, Norway, and Ireland in May 2024, has hardened Israel’s opposition and intensified threats to annex the occupied West Bank—the very territory envisioned as the future Palestinian state.

For this reason, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has previously stated that the UK would recognise Palestine only when it would have the “greatest impact.”

Yet, as Palestinian suffering worsens and far-right Israeli ministers advocate for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, pressure grows on Britain and other global powers to take a decisive stand—before it is too late.

The timing of President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement late Thursday—after the main television news programmes had concluded—may have taken some in France by surprise. However, his decision to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations in September was not entirely unforeseen.

Macron had indicated as early as last April that he might make such a move at a summit on Palestinian statehood planned for June, which was subsequently postponed. Now, having set a definitive date for September, his decision has elicited predictable divisions along political lines within French politics.

Parties on the left have largely welcomed the announcement. Marine Tondelier, leader of the Ecologists, described it as a “major step” and remarked that it was “better late than never.” Meanwhile, radical left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon hailed the move as a “moral victory.”

Olivier Faure of the Socialist Party emphasised that recognition must be accompanied by sanctions, urging Europe to apply pressure on Israel’s “supremacist and messianic government.”

Most leaders from the centre and Republican right, many of whom serve in government, have largely refrained from commenting. Conversely, the far-right has voiced strong opposition.

National Rally leader Marine Le Pen condemned the recognition, arguing that it amounted to recognising “a Hamas state and therefore a terrorist state,” and characterised the decision as both a political and moral error.

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