RIYADH: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and France’s President Emmanuel Macron held discussions on Tuesday on the dire situation in Palestine.
The Saudi Press Agency reported that the crown prince, who received a call from Macron, reiterated the Kingdom’s position for an immediate end to Israel’s war on Gaza and the Occupied Territories.
The crown prince also condemned any measures aimed at undermining a two-state solution to the situation, the SPA reported.
Saudi Arabia and France have led an initiative to recognize a Palestinian state. In July, Macron announced France would formally recognize Palestine during the UN General Assembly later this month, becoming the first G7 country to make the commitment.
The move was welcomed by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry said the Kingdom “commends this historic decision, which reaffirms the international community’s consensus on the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and to establish their independent state.”
Last month, Saudi Arabia and France co-chaired a key conference to encourage major world powers to accept that Palestinian statehood is now needed to ensure long-term peace in the Middle East.
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Malta, Portugal and the UK have all promised to recognize Palestine this month.
Israel has threatened to take over Gaza City after nearly two years of war on the occupied territory, and also annex the West Bank if Western nations follow through with promises of recognizing a Palestinian state.
“No offensive, annexation attempt, or forced displacement of populations will derail the momentum,” Macron wrote on X, after his call with the crown prince.
Israel has killed over 62,000 people, mostly civilians, in Gaza and has been starving the population as a weapon of war, according to health officials and rights groups.
Experts have described Israel’s actions as genocide. Tel Aviv currently faces charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice.
In addition, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, alleging war crimes that include deliberate starvation.
This week, the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars, stated that Israel’s action amount to genocide.
Eighty-six percent of the scholars voted for the resolution declaring: “Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in Article II of the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).”
The latest Israeli war on the Palestinians began in October 2023 after Hamas raided Israeli settlements resulting in the death of 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the capture of around 250.
Israel’s government has vowed to eradicate the group and free their citizens.
US President Donald Trump held a meeting at the White House last week to discuss the situation.
The meeting was attended by Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and former adviser, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and a top Israeli official, according to US media.
A 38-page prospectus circulating within the Trump administration envisions the relocation of all of Gaza’s 2 million people. The US wants to take over the enclave for 10 years while it is transformed into a tourist resort and tech hub, the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
Trump announced in February that he wants the Palestinian territory to be turned into what he called the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
