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Today, Britain, Canada and Australia said they recognize Palestine as a state. When global leaders gather at the United Nations this week, the Trump administration will find itself at odds with much of the rest of the world over Palestinian statehood. France and Saudi Arabia are hosting a meeting Monday to boost the prospects of statehood for Palestinians. The U.S. accuses them of making matters worse. NPR’s Michele Kelemen reports.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: The United Nations is marking its 80th anniversary. And for most of that time, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has topped the agenda, as Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group explains.
RICHARD GOWAN: For many U.N. members, the Palestinian cause is special. For many, there’s a sense that resolving the Palestinian question is the U.N.’s single greatest political challenge.
KELEMEN: This year, France, the U.K. and other U.S. allies are joining the majority of other countries and recognizing a Palestinian state. It’s a mostly symbolic move, but Gowen says this will put them on a collision course with the U.S., which opposes unilateral recognition.
GOWAN: This is a bit of a perfect storm. We have a U.S. administration that is deeply negative towards the U.N., while we have a lot of other U.N. members prioritizing the Palestinian question. You know, that can lead to a very nasty spiral, indeed.
KELEMEN: The Trump administration is denying visas for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation. Varsen Aghabekian Shahin is the minister of foreign affairs for the Palestinian Authority.
VARSEN AGHABEKIAN SHAHIN: It’s very disappointing that we were denied visas to physically participate at the U.N. conference. This is, of course, a violation of the Headquarters Agreement. However, our participation will take place online.
KELEMEN: She acknowledges that the conference won’t change what’s happening on the ground.
AGHABEKIAN SHAHIN: Yet it will strengthen the legal position of the occupied state of Palestine and will put responsibility on all countries that have recognized to take measures that will end the war and help the state of Palestine to materialize on the ground.
KELEMEN: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, though, has been warning European allies that their moves to recognize Palestine as a state only emboldens Hamas and provokes Israel.
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MARCO RUBIO: We’ve warned them that there will be an Israeli counter reaction to those moves, and we’ve seen some of that happen, as well.
KELEMEN: Rubio was in Israel recently visiting a controversial Israeli archaeological site beneath East Jerusalem, the part of the city which Palestinians see as their future capital. Critics saw the visit as another sign that the Trump administration is backing Jewish settler projects that undermine the prospects for a Palestinian state. But Rubio blames Europeans for undermining diplomacy.
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RUBIO: So I think these things have actually made it harder to end this war and this conflict, not easier. And we’ve expressed that to them. And I’ve expressed that to them directly on multiple occasions, and I’ll continue to do it. Now, they’re going to do what they want, and they’re going to continue to do what they’re doing. But I’m telling you, it’s actually hurting the cause they think they’re furthering.
KELEMEN: A hundred forty-two nations in the General Assembly have already backed the efforts by France and Saudi Arabia to lay out a clear, time-bound pathway to a Palestinian state. Israel describes it as a gift to Hamas, but U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres disagrees.
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ANTONIO GUTERRES: It’s not a gift to Hamas because the two-state solution is something that is not also in Hamas program, as you know. It is a gift to the Palestinian people that has suffered also a lot because of Hamas.
KELEMEN: And he says it’s important to keep open the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially at a time when Israel is talking about annexing the West Bank and intensifying a ground offensive in Gaza City. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
