The unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state will lead Israel to take “unilateral measures,” the Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Gideon Saar, in reaction to the ongoing discussions on the issue on Sunday.
“Any unilateral attempt (of recognition) (…) will only harm the future prospects of a bilateral process and will push us to take unilateral measures in response,” said Mr. Saar after a meeting with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul, in Jerusalem.
For its part, Germany defends the principle of a two -state solution with bilateral recognition of the Israeli and Palestinian states.
“The prospect of a solution to two states is the best chance to live in peace, security and dignity for the Israelis as well as for the Palestinians and this must not be hampered either by the progress of the construction of illegal colonies or by a premature recognition of a Palestinian state,” noted Mr. Wadephul.
Ireland, Norway, Spain, Slovenia
Nearly 150 countries recognize the Palestinian state. In May 2024, Ireland, Norway and Spain took the plunge, followed by Slovenia in June.
French President Emmanuel Macron must also co -resist in June with Saudi Arabia an international conference at the United Nations to relaunch the solution to two states, Palestinian and Israeli.
He said he hoped on this occasion “to trigger a series of recognitions” of a Palestinian State, notably by France, but also of Israel by several countries of the Arab-Muslim world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as several of his government’s ministers – one of the most right in the country’s history – have repeated in recent months to be opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
For them, it would come back, as Mr. Saar repeated on Sunday, to “reward the terrorism of Hamas”.
The war in Gaza was launched by the attack perpetrated on October 7, 2023 by the Palestinian Islamist movement of Hamas, which led to the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, for most civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
The Israeli reprisal campaign left at least 52,829 dead in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Hamas, deemed reliable by the UN.
Of the 251 people kidnapped that day, 58 are still retained in Gaza, 34 of which were declared dead by the Israeli army. Hamas also retains the body of an Israeli soldier killed in a previous war in Gaza in 2014.
