French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France is working at the United Nations for a resolution to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and to set a two-year deadline for success.
"France will recognize a Palestinian state, but the question is “when, and how,” Fabius said Friday during a debate in the lower house of the French parliament over a resolution tabled by the Socialists which walls on the government to recognize a Palestinian state.
France, which has western Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations, and has seen tensions erupt between them, has sought to keep good ties with both Israel and the Palestinian authorities in recent years. “Our only enemies in this region are the extremists,” Fabius said.
The Socialist resolution, which urges the government "to recognize the state of Palestine in view of reaching a definitive settlement to the conflict,’’ is expected to be put on the vote on Tuesday.
It is non-binding on the government.
Fabius has insisted that any resolution “must be useful for efforts to break the deadlock and contribute to a final resolution of the conflict,” warning against a purely symbolic gesture.
“If it’s a state on paper that doesn’t exist in reality, that will offer nothing to the Palestinians,” he declared.
Reflecting the sensitivity of the subject in France, parliament is expected to be divided, also among party lines, with the right-wing opposition UMP party seen voting against the motion.
Former French president Nicholas Sarkozy, who is staging a return to politics, on Tuesday urged UMP members to oppose the resolution to recognize the state of Palestine.
“I will fight for the Palestinians to have their state. But unilateral recognition a few days after a deadly attack and when there is no peace process? No!” he said at a political rally, in reference to the attack at a Jerusalem synagogue which left four rabbis and a policeman dead.
Ahead of the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned France it would be making a “grave mistake” if it recognized Palestine as a state.
“Do they have nothing better to do at a time of beheadings across the Middle East, including that of a French citizen?” he told reporters in Jerusalem on November 23, referring to hiker Herve Gourdel who was executed by his jihadist captors in Algeria in September.
“Recognition of a Palestinian state by France would be a grave mistake,” Netanyahu said.
Israel's ambassador to France, Yossi Gal, said the French parliamentary initiative, like any unilateral effort, was destructive for the peace effort.
"I really hope that everybody will come back to their senses and see how bad this resolution is for everybody concerned," the ambassador said.
Pro-Israel supporters demonstrated near the French parliament against the parliamentary debate.
In October, Sweden became the first EU member state to recognize Palestinian statehood. Since then, lawmakers in Britain, Spain and Ireland have approved non-binding motions urging recognition, and the European Parliament, which debated the issue this week, is expected to vote on a resolution in mid-December.