Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at a press conference about recognizing Palestinian statehood as Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand listens on Wednesday.Patrick Doyle/Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron always seeks to make his mark on the international stage, and never more so since being relegated to the sidelines of domestic politics in the wake of legislative elections in 2024 that have left his coalition without a majority in parliament and his own popularity at an all-time low.
Thus, Mr. Macron’s move last week to announce France’s intention to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly in September must first be seen in light of his quest for relevance amid his diminished ability to influence domestic affairs. He had planned to make a show of the announcement by hosting a June conference on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, but the event was postponed after Israel began bombing Iran.
The conference, rescheduled for this week, was downgraded to a ministerial affair, and most observers expected Mr. Macron would put his announcement on hold indefinitely. Instead, he caught Western leaders off-guard by unveiling his plans in a July 24 post on X in which he declared: “I have decided that France will recognize the State of Palestine.”
Amid the horrific images of starving children in Gaza and countless reports of Gazans being killed while lining up for humanitarian aid, the French President’s announcement had a cascading effect as other Western leaders faced sudden pressure to follow suit.
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded to Mr. Macron’s announcement with a statement insisting that Palestinians have an “inalienable right” to their own state but added that “a ceasefire will put us on the path to the recognition of Palestinian state.”
That did not cut it for the 130 Labour MPs who signed a weekend letter calling on Mr. Starmer to immediately follow Mr. Macron’s move. On Tuesday, he announced Britain would recognize Palestinian statehood in September, unless Israel “takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza,” accepts a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution.
The British Prime Minister was widely criticized for making the recognition of Palestinian statehood conditional on Israel not complying with his list of must-dos, as if to give the Jewish state some kind of veto power over the “inalienable right” of Palestinians.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney clearly took note of that before announcing, on Wednesday, that Canada would become the third Group of Seven country to break with long-standing U.S.-led policy on the Palestinian conflict. Under that policy, recognition of Palestinian statehood must be part of a negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in accordance with the 1993 Oslo Accords.
“Regrettably, this approach is no longer tenable,” Mr. Carney said after a hastily arranged cabinet meeting at which Canada’s foreign-policy U-turn was decided. “Prospects for a two-state solution have been steadily and gravely eroded.”
Canada’s plan to recognize Palestinian statehood prompts swift, divided reaction
Mr. Carney suggests that this sudden shift in Canadian foreign policy is aimed, at least in part, at keeping the prospect of a two-state solution alive. But if anything, the about-faces by the leaders of France, Britain and Canada exposes their sense of helplessness amid a continuing war in Gaza that not even staunch defenders of Israel can justify any more.
As political pressure builds at home for them to do something, the best that Mr. Macron, Mr. Starmer and Mr. Carney appear to have been able to come up with is to distract from the real issue at hand – the utter urgency of stopping the war – with a diplomatic trinket that does nothing to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
The conditions on which Mr. Carney said Canada’s recognition of the Palestinian state is “predicated” are in themselves absurd. It is disingenuous to demand that the Palestinian Authority, led by a nearly nonagenarian Mahmoud Abbas, organize elections in the West Bank and Gaza in 2026. The PA is wracked by corruption and ineptness and the prospect for free and fair elections on that timeline is less than remote. Besides, what would stop Hamas, reconstituted under another name, from hijacking the vote to eliminate its longtime enemy, Mr. Abbas’s Fatah party?
“Canada will increase its efforts in supporting strong democratic governance in Palestine and the contributions of its people to a more peaceful and hopeful future,” Mr. Carney promised, proving there is no limit to which Canadian leaders will not go to promote virtue-signalling foreign policies that play well at home, but which have no impact abroad.
However, Mr. Macron, Mr. Starmer and Mr. Carney did succeed in moving the needle – not toward the creation of a Palestinian state, but by strengthening Israel’s radical governing coalition. Their precipitous decisions to overturn decades-old and deeply considered policies on Palestinian statehood have provided fodder for the Israeli far-right that keeps Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in power as he conducts his forever war in Gaza.