The organizers of an international summit at the United Nations aimed at promoting world-wide recognition of unilateral Palestinian statehood have scaled back their plans, diplomats say, opting for a far less ambitious goal.
According to a report by The Guardian on Saturday which cited multiple unnamed diplomats, the Saudi and French governments, which are co-sponsoring a planned UN summit from the 17th through the 20th of June, have dropped a joint declaration of recognition of Palestinian statehood from the agenda.
Previously, France and Saudi Arabia had hoped that the summit would secure the backing of a number of countries, including Britain, for immediate, unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood.
Last week, however, the Trump administration reportedly warned France and Britain not to take any steps to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood.
Now, according to Saturday’s report, Paris and Riyadh will only seek a joint resolution at this month’s summit which includes pledges to take steps towards recognition, which actually granting recognition itself during the conference.
It is unclear whether Emmanuel Macron, who has said that recognizing a Palestinian state is a “moral duty and political requirement,” will also withhold French recognition at the end of the summit or whether France will grant recognition independently, outside the framework of the summit.
But a French source, cited by The Times of Israel, denied Sunday that the summit’s goals had been downgraded, calling the Guardian report “false.”
“We clearly see that some have an interest in indicating that we are not moving towards the recognition of Palestine. That is false,” the source said.
