Fifteen Western countries call on other nations to express willingness to recognize Palestine

France and 14 countries, including Canada and Australia, are "inviting" nations around the world to express their willingness to recognize a State of Palestine, French Foreign Minister said Wednesday.

"In New York with 14 other countries, France is making a collective call: we are expressing our willingness to recognize the State of Palestine and invite those who have not yet done so to join us," Jean-NoEl Barrot wrote on X, following the "New York call" issued at the end of a ministerial conference at the United Nations for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In addition to France, two G20 members — Canada and Australia — are part of the call. The other signatory countries are: Andorra, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia and Spain.

Nine of them, which have not yet recognized the Palestinian state, "express the willingness or positive consideration of their country" to do so: Andorra, Australia, Canada, Finland, Luxembourg, Malta, New Zealand, Portugal and San Marino.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, for his part, announced Tuesday that the United Kingdom would recognize Palestine if Israel does not take certain measures. Last Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would officially recognize a State of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

This call from the 15 countries was made public at the end of a ministerial conference held Monday and Tuesday in New York, at the initiative of France and Saudi Arabia, who are trying to keep the two-state solution alive as a way out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a scenario challenged by the ongoing war in Gaza and settlements in the West Bank. During the conference, several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, called on Hamas to hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority.