PARIS: France on Friday dampened expectations Paris could rapidly recognize a Palestinian state, with the French foreign minister saying while it was “determined” to make such a move, recognition had to be more than “symbolic.”
France is due later this month to co-host with Saudi Arabia a UN conference in New York on a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
There had been expectations that France could recognize a Palestinian state during that conference, with President Emmanuel Macron also growing increasingly frustrated with Israel’s blocking of aid to the Palestinians in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
“France could have taken a symbolic decision. But this is not the choice we made because we have a particular responsibility” as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said, while saying Paris was still “determined” the make the move.
He said France would not recognize a Palestinian state alone, in a possible reference to the eagerness of Paris to see any French recognition matched by Gulf Arab allies — notably regional kingpin Saudi Arabia — recognizing Israel.
Several EU countries including Ireland, Spain and Sweden recognize a Palestinian state. But Germany, while backing a two-state solution, has said recognition now would send the “wrong signal.”
France is reportedly working closely on the issue with the United Kingdom, which also so far has not recognized a Palestinian state, at a time when French-British diplomatic ties are becoming increasingly tight after Brexit.
Macron on Thursday said that he expected the conference in New York would take steps “toward recognizing Palestine,” without being more specific.
He has said he hopes French recognition of a Palestinian state would encourage other governments to do the same and that countries who do not recognize Israel should do so.
Barrot meanwhile also stressed the “absolute necessity” to address the issue of the disarmament of Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.
Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants abducted 251 hostages, 55 of whom remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Hamas-run Gaza has killed 54,677 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry there, figures the United Nations deems reliable.
Relations between Israel and France have deteriorated over the last weeks, with Israel’s foreign ministry accusing Macron of undertaking a “crusade against the Jewish state” after he called on European countries to harden their stance if the humanitarian situation in Gaza did not improve.
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France cools expectations of swift Palestinian state recognition
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France cools expectations of swift Palestinian state recognition
- France is due later this month to co-host with Saudi Arabia a UN conference in New York on a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians
Trump has ‘productive’ talks with Putin before Zelensky meet
- Trump’s upbeat tone on peace deal comes after Russia carried out another massive bombardment of Kyiv
- US president due to meet Zelensky at his Mar-a-Lago estate today
PALM BEACH: Donald Trump said Sunday he had “productive” talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin hours before the US president meets Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, in a year-end sprint to seal a deal to end the war.
Trump’s renewed upbeat tone comes despite wide skepticism in Europe about Putin’s intentions after Russia carried out another massive bombardment of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv just as Zelensky was heading to Trump’s Florida estate.
“I just had a very good and productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.
The Kremlin gave a more pointed readout, saying that Trump agreed that a mere ceasefire “would only prolong the conflict” as it demanded Ukraine compromise on territory.
Trump is meeting Zelensky in the dining room of his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he frequently brings both foreign guests and domestic supporters.
Trump has made ending the Ukraine war a centerpiece of his second term as a self-proclaimed “president of peace,” and he has repeatedly blamed both Kyiv and Moscow for the failure to secure a ceasefire.
Zelensky, who has faced verbal attacks from Trump, has sought to show willingness to work with the contours of the US leader’s plans, but Putin has offered no sign that he will accept it.
Sunday’s meeting will be Trump’s first in-person encounter with Zelensky since October, when the US president refused to grant his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
And the Ukrainian leader could face another hard sell this time around, with Trump insisting that he “doesn’t have anything until I approve it.”
- European allies -
The talks are expected to last an hour, after which the two presidents are scheduled to hold a joint call with the leaders of key European allies.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who will join the call, wrote on X that the Russian attacks on Kyiv were “contrary to President Trump’s expectations and despite the readiness to make compromises” by Zelensky.
The revised peace plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, would stop the war along its current front lines and could require Ukraine to pull troops back from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarized buffer zones.
As such, it contains Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions.
It does not, however, envisage Ukraine withdrawing from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls — Russia’s main territorial demand.
The Ukrainian leader said he hoped the talks in Florida would be “very constructive” but stressed that Putin had shown his hand with a deadly drone and missile assault on Kyiv that temporarily knocked out power and heating to hundreds of thousands of residents during freezing temperatures.
“This attack is again Russia’s answer on our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn’t want peace,” he said as he visited Canada.
He also told reporters that he would press Trump on the importance of providing security guarantees that would prevent any renewed Russian aggression if a ceasefire were secured.
“We need strong security guarantees. We will discuss this and we will discuss the terms,” he said.
Ukraine insists it needs more European and US funding and weapons — especially drones.
- Russian opposition -
Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to “torpedo” a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting, and recent battlefield gains — Russia announced on Saturday it had captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine — are seen as strengthening Moscow’s hand when it comes to peace talks.
“If the authorities in Kyiv don’t want to settle this business peacefully, we’ll resolve all the problems before us by military means,” Putin said on Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state news agency TASS that Moscow would continue its engagement with US negotiators but criticized European governments as the “main obstacle” to peace.
“They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia,” Lavrov said, adding that the ambitions of European politicians are “literally blinding them.”
Trump’s renewed upbeat tone comes despite wide skepticism in Europe about Putin’s intentions after Russia carried out another massive bombardment of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv just as Zelensky was heading to Trump’s Florida estate.
“I just had a very good and productive telephone call with President Putin of Russia,” Trump announced on his Truth Social platform.
The Kremlin gave a more pointed readout, saying that Trump agreed that a mere ceasefire “would only prolong the conflict” as it demanded Ukraine compromise on territory.
Trump is meeting Zelensky in the dining room of his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he frequently brings both foreign guests and domestic supporters.
Trump has made ending the Ukraine war a centerpiece of his second term as a self-proclaimed “president of peace,” and he has repeatedly blamed both Kyiv and Moscow for the failure to secure a ceasefire.
Zelensky, who has faced verbal attacks from Trump, has sought to show willingness to work with the contours of the US leader’s plans, but Putin has offered no sign that he will accept it.
Sunday’s meeting will be Trump’s first in-person encounter with Zelensky since October, when the US president refused to grant his request for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
And the Ukrainian leader could face another hard sell this time around, with Trump insisting that he “doesn’t have anything until I approve it.”
- European allies -
The talks are expected to last an hour, after which the two presidents are scheduled to hold a joint call with the leaders of key European allies.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who will join the call, wrote on X that the Russian attacks on Kyiv were “contrary to President Trump’s expectations and despite the readiness to make compromises” by Zelensky.
The revised peace plan, which emerged from weeks of intense US-Ukraine negotiations, would stop the war along its current front lines and could require Ukraine to pull troops back from the east, allowing the creation of demilitarized buffer zones.
As such, it contains Kyiv’s most explicit acknowledgement yet of possible territorial concessions.
It does not, however, envisage Ukraine withdrawing from the 20 percent of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls — Russia’s main territorial demand.
The Ukrainian leader said he hoped the talks in Florida would be “very constructive” but stressed that Putin had shown his hand with a deadly drone and missile assault on Kyiv that temporarily knocked out power and heating to hundreds of thousands of residents during freezing temperatures.
“This attack is again Russia’s answer on our peace efforts. And this really showed that Putin doesn’t want peace,” he said as he visited Canada.
He also told reporters that he would press Trump on the importance of providing security guarantees that would prevent any renewed Russian aggression if a ceasefire were secured.
“We need strong security guarantees. We will discuss this and we will discuss the terms,” he said.
Ukraine insists it needs more European and US funding and weapons — especially drones.
- Russian opposition -
Russia has accused Ukraine and its European backers of trying to “torpedo” a previous US-brokered plan to stop the fighting, and recent battlefield gains — Russia announced on Saturday it had captured two more towns in eastern Ukraine — are seen as strengthening Moscow’s hand when it comes to peace talks.
“If the authorities in Kyiv don’t want to settle this business peacefully, we’ll resolve all the problems before us by military means,” Putin said on Saturday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state news agency TASS that Moscow would continue its engagement with US negotiators but criticized European governments as the “main obstacle” to peace.
“They are making no secret of their plans to prepare for war with Russia,” Lavrov said, adding that the ambitions of European politicians are “literally blinding them.”
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