France will be the most significant European power to recognise the Palestinian state.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar condemned French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that Paris could recognize a Palestinian state by June, saying it would be a "reward" for terrorism.
"Unilateral recognition of a fictional Palestinian state, by any state, in the reality we all know, would be a reward for terror and an incentive for Hamas," Saar wrote on X, as quoted by AFP.
"Such actions will not bring peace, security and stability closer to our region - but quite the opposite: they will only push them further away," he added.
Nearly 150 countries recognize a Palestinian state. In May 2024, Ireland, Norway and Spain announced recognition, followed by Slovenia in June - steps prompted in part by condemnation of Israel's bombing of Gaza that followed the start of the war on 7 October.
France, however, will be the most significant European power to recognise a Palestinian state - a move that the United States has also long opposed, but which supporters see as a necessary step to bring stability to the region.
On April 9, Macron announced that France plans to recognize a Palestinian state within months and could make the move at a U.N. conference in New York in June.
"We have to move towards recognition and we will do it in the coming months," the French president, who visited Egypt this week, told France 5 television.
Such a step would make France the first permanent member of the UN Security Council to recognise a Palestinian state.
"Our goal is to chair this conference with Saudi Arabia in June, where we could finalize this movement of mutual recognition by several countries," he added.
"I will do it because I believe that at some point it will be the right thing to do, and because I also want to participate in a collective dynamic that should allow all those who defend Palestine to recognize Israel in turn, which many of them do not," he added.
Such recognition would allow France "to be clear in its struggle against those who deny Israel's right to exist - as is the case with Iran - and to commit itself to collective security in the region," he added.
France has long advocated a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including after the 7 October 2023 attack.
But formal recognition by Paris of a Palestinian state would mark a major shift in policy and risk angering Israel, which insists such steps by foreign states are premature. | BGNES