French-sponsored UN summit drops Palestinian recognition

United Nations summit organized by France and Saudi Arabia drops plans to push for immediate recognition of Palestinian statehood amid US opposition, report claims.

By World Israel News Staff

The organizers of an international summit at the United Nations aimed at promoting worldwide recognition of unilateral Palestinian statehood have scaled back their plans, diplomats say, opting for a far less ambitious goal.

According to a report by The Guardian on Saturday which cited multiple unnamed diplomats, the Saudi and French governments, which are co-sponsoring a planned UN summit for June 17-20, have dropped a joint declaration of recognition of Palestinian statehood from the agenda.

Previously, France and Saudi Arabia had hoped that the summit would secure the backing of a number of countries, including Britain, for immediate, unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood.

“We must urgently move from words to deeds,” France’s United Nations envoy said of the summit on May 23. “We must move from ending the war in Gaza to ending the conflict itself.”

Last week, however, the Trump administration reportedly warned France and Britain not to take any steps to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood.

Israel, for its part, has openly warned European powers considering joining a joint declaration that it would respond to recognition of unilateral Palestinian statehood by applying sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria.

Now, according to Saturday’s report, Paris and Riyadh will only seek a joint resolution at this month’s summit that includes pledges to take steps towards recognition

It is unclear whether Emmanuel Macron, who has said that recognizing a Palestinian state is a “moral duty and political requirement,” will also withhold French recognition at the end of the summit or whether France will grant recognition independently, outside the framework of the summit.

A French source, cited by The Times of Israel, denied Sunday that the summit’s goals had been downgraded, calling the Guardian report “false.”

“We clearly see that some have an interest in indicating that we are not moving towards the recognition of Palestine. That is false,” the source said.