United States President Donald Trump has blasted western countries that have recognised Palestine as a state.
France, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Andorra and Belgium have formally recognised a Palestinian state at the 80th session of the General Assembly (UNGA)
These six countries join Canada, Australia and Portugal, as well as the United Kingdom, which announced its recognition on Sunday, as Israel pushes ahead with settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and escalates its genocide in Gaza.
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The United Kingdom’s decision to formally recognise a Palestinian state comes more than 100 years after the Balfour Declaration backed “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” and 77 years after the creation of Israel in the British Mandate of Palestine.
“In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and of a two-state solution,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Sunday.
The move of recognising Palestine strengthens its global standing, boosts its capacity to hold Israeli authorities accountable for their occupation, and increases pressure on Western powers to work towards a two-state solution.
But in his speech during the ongoing UNGA assembly in New York on Tuesday, Trump condemned moves by Western powers to recognise a Palestinian state and said those countries should instead focus on securing the release of hostages held in Gaza, nearly two years after Hamas seized them in the deadly attack on Israel that triggered the deadly Gaza genocide.
He also said recognising Palestine as a state will be a big win for Hamas, which is a globally renowned terrorist organisation.
“As if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body are seeking to unilaterally recognise the Palestinian state. The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists for their atrocities,” Trump said.
No matter how many countries would recognise the State of Palestine, full U.N. membership would require approval by the Security Council, where the United States has a veto that it frequently uses to oppose resolutions that are critical of Israel.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres backed the moves for recognition while speaking at the Security Council later on Tuesday.
“This is the clearest path to a two-state solution: Israel and an independent, sovereign, democratic, viable and contiguous State of Palestine,” he said. “We must seize this momentum.”
