Hamas issues statement on France plan to recognize Palestine

A Hamas official said Thursday that the group welcomed the announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron that Paris could recognise a Palestinian state by June, hailing it as an "important step".

"France, as a country with political weight and a permanent member of the (UN) Security Council, has the ability to influence the course of fair solutions and push towards ending the occupation and achieving the aspirations of the Palestinian people," Mahmud Mardawi told AFP.

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France is planning to recognise a Palestinian state within months and could make the move at a UN conference in New York in June on settling the conflict between “Israel” and the Palestinians, President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday Wednesday.

"We must move towards recognition, and we will do so in the coming months," Macron, who this week visited Egypt, told France 5 television.

"Our aim is to chair this conference with Saudi Arabia in June, where we could finalise this movement of mutual recognition (of a Palestinian state) by several parties," he added.