PARIS — Plans for a United Nations conference on reviving the two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian people appear to be on ice after Israel’s strikes against Iran, POLITICO was informed.
One European diplomat, who, like others quoted in this story, was granted anonymity to discuss the matter, said the meeting had become “collateral damage” of the Israeli bombardment.
The attack, which took place on Thursday night, targeted nuclear sites and top-ranking Iranian officials and is now threatening to plunge the Middle East into a catastrophic conflict.
While two European officials said the conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, would almost certainly be postponed, all four officials POLITICO spoke with said a final decision had not yet been taken.
The United States was reportedly urging allies not to take part, arguing it would reward Hamas for spearheading the Oct. 7 terror attack that sparked the current crisis in Gaza, Reuters reported, citing a leaked diplomatic cable.
Neither Macron’s office nor the U.S. Embassy in Paris immediately responded to a request for comment.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s team had hoped that the event would see European states officially recognize Palestinian statehood and some Middle Eastern states move towards normalizing relations with Israel. However, Paris has already been forced to temper its expectations for the conference due to the outrage over the humanitarian catastrophe playing out in Gaza.
Macron had attempted to lobby European states to jointly recognize a Palestinian state — which the French leader said he would do in April under certain conditions — but a breakthrough failed to materialize in recent weeks.
One U.K. government figure said there had been “considerable uncertainty about what [France] was playing at,” and posited that Macron “has his eye on grandeur and legacy.”
Britain planned to attend the conference and host a working group on the first day, but has said recognition can only happen when a two-state solution is workable on the ground. Even before Israel’s attack, the U.K. was still making up its mind about who would attend the conference, mulling whether to send a junior minister or unelected officials.
Richard Gowan, director of UN diplomacy for the International Crisis Group, said the smart betting in diplomatic circles was “that France will announce that it will recognize Palestine, but only when certain conditions — like a governance overhaul at the Palestinian Authority and more Arab countries recognizing Israel — are met.”
Esther Webber contributed reporting.
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