From: The Guardian June 7, 2025
Conference to recognise Palestinian state to weaken scope of its ambition, diplomats say

UK, France and other western states will not recognise Palestine at New York meeting, instead focusing on agreeing steps towards it

A planned conference in New York this month that supporters of Palestine had hoped would push western governments to recognise a Palestinian state has weakened its ambition and will instead hope to agree on steps towards recognition, diplomats have said.

The change to the aims of the conference, due to be held between 17 and 20 June, marks a retreat from an earlier vision that it would mark a joint declaration of recognition of Palestine as a state by a large group of countries, including permanent UN security council members France and the UK.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president and a co-sponsor of the three-day conference with Saudi Arabia, has declared recognition of Palestine as “a moral duty and political requirement”, but French officials briefing their Israeli counterparts this week reassured them the conference will not be the moment for recognition — Exactly rewarding terrorism

France hopes that a group of western states recognising a Palestinian state could be counter-balanced by Muslim states normalising relations with Israel.

However, Saudi recognition of Israel seems impossible. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the other co-host, has asserted repeatedly that Israel is committing a genocide, a view that is shared widely by Saudi public opinion.