France urges EU to pressure Israel on two-state solution after pledging to recognise Palestine
Speaking at a United Nations meeting on Monday aimed at addressing the conflict, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urged the EU to take decisive action to push Israel toward a two-state agreement with Palestine.
France has called on the European Union (EU) to pressure Israel into accepting a two-state solution to resolve the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The appeal comes just days after Paris officially announced it would recognise Palestine as a state in September.
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Speaking at a United Nations meeting on Monday aimed at addressing the conflict, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot urged the EU to take decisive action to push Israel toward a two-state agreement with Palestine.
The two-state solution is a widely supported international proposal to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by creating two independent nations—Israel and Palestine—coexisting peacefully.
Under this plan, Israel would retain its current statehood, while Palestinians would establish their own sovereign state based on pre-1967 borders.
Political resolution
Amid growing international consensus that a political resolution is necessary to end the war in Gaza, France is now pressing for those commitments to be translated into tangible measures.
"The European Commission, on behalf of the EU, has to express its expectations of the Israeli government," Barrot stated.
"Firstly, the lifting of the financial blockade, settlement of the two million euros that the Israeli government owes Palestine, the abandonment of colonisation projects and in particular the E1 project, which, with its 3,400 housing units established in the West Bank, threatens the territorial integrity of the future Palestinian state."
UN Secretary-General António Guterres echoed this call for a two-state solution as the only viable path to end the war in Gaza.
Two-state solution
Speaking at the high-level conference on the peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine and the implementation of the two-state solution, Guterres underscored the urgency of achieving a resolution.
"For decades, Middle East diplomacy has been far more process than peace," he said.
"Words, speeches, declarations may not have much meaning to those on the ground. They have seen it before. They have heard it before. Meanwhile, destruction and annexation bulldoze ahead."
Guterres also challenged opponents of the two-state model, including the United States and Israel.
"What is the alternative? A one-State reality where Palestinians are denied equal rights and forced to live under perpetual occupation and inequality? A one-State reality where Palestinians are expelled from their land?" he asked.
"That is not peace. That is not justice. And that is not acceptable."
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