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The leaders of six countries, including France, have moved to recognise Palestinian statehood at a high-level summit ahead of the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York.

Alongside France, which co-convened the meeting with Saudi Arabia on Monday in New York, Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta and Monaco said they were recognising a Palestinian state.

Leaders from Australia, Canada, Portugal and the United Kingdom, which formally made the move to recognise Palestine a day earlier, also spoke at the meeting.

“We have gathered here because the time has come,” Emmanuel Macron said at the summit convened to revive the long-delayed two-state solution to end the Israel-Palestine conflict.

“It falls on us, this responsibility, to do everything in our power to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution,” Macron said.

“Today, I declare that France recognises the state of Palestine,” he said.

The additional countries recognising Palestine now join some 147 of the 193 UN member states that had already formally recognised Palestinian statehood as of April this year.

With more than 80 percent of the international community now recognising the state of Palestine, diplomatic pressure has ramped up on Israel as it continues its genocidal war on Gaza, where more than 65,300 Palestinians have been killed and the has been enclave turned into rubble.

Spain, Norway and Ireland recognised Palestinian statehood last year, with Madrid also imposing sanctions on Israel for its war on Gaza.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the summit on Monday that a two-state solution was not possible “when the population of one of those two states is the victim of a genocide”.

“The Palestinian people are being annihilated, [so] in the name of reason, in the name of international law and in the name of human dignity, we have to stop this slaughter,” Sanchez said.

Macron, in his speech to the summit, also outlined a framework for the creation of a “renewed Palestinian Authority”. The post-war framework envisages an International Stabilisation Force (ISF) that would assist in preparing the Palestinian Authority (PA) to take over governance in Gaza.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas commended the countries that had recognised Palestine. He made his statement to the conference by video because he was denied a visa by the administration of US President Donald Trump to attend the UNGA this week.

“We call on those that have not yet done so to do so to follow suit”, Abbas said, adding that the PA also demanded “support for Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations”.

Israel and the US, which are becoming increasingly isolated internationally on the issue, boycotted the summit, with Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, describing the event as a “circus”.

Although the vast majority of UN member states now recognise Palestinian statehood, new UN member states must have the support of the UN Security Council, where the US has used its veto to block Palestine from becoming a full UN member state.

Speaking at the summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated his support for the two-state solution, framing it as the only viable path towards peace after years of failed negotiations and ongoing violence.

Guterres said that statehood for Palestinians “is a right, not a reward”, rejecting US and Israeli claims that it was a reward for Hamas.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, thanked Macron and the UN chief for their efforts towards a two-state solution, which he said is “the only way to achieve just and lasting peace”.

He said the conference comes at a time when “the Israeli occupation authorities continue their aggression and their brutal crimes” against Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel also continues its “violations in the West Bank, and its repeated attacks on Arab and Muslim countries, with the most recent attack on Qatar”, he said.

“These actions underline Israel’s insistence on continuing aggressive practices that threaten regional and international peace and stability and undermine efforts of peace in the region,” he added. (AlJazeera)

Thomas Tuchel criticised England’s “attitude” and felt they “played with fire” in a narrow 1-0 World Cup qualifying win away to Andorra.

The Three Lions laboured against the world’s 173rd-ranked side in Barcelona, squeezing out a third successive win through captain Harry Kane’s 50th-minute strike to top Group K.

Tuchel’s men were jeered off the pitch at half-time and again at the end, leaving the England manager “not happy” with the disappointing display.

“I was most worried in the last 20 minutes because I did not like the attitude that we ended the game with,” said the German.

“I didn’t like the lack of urgency and it did not match the occasion – it is still a World Cup qualifier. We will let them know [on Sunday] what we want from them.

“I think we lacked the seriousness and the urgency that is needed in a World Cup qualifier.

“I think we played with fire. I didn’t like the attitude in the end. I didn’t like the body language. It was not what the occasion needed.”

England dominated the ball with 83 per cent possession, but frustratingly could not break down Andorra’s well-organised defence and were mainly restricted to efforts from distance.

Kane slid home the winner from a Noni Madueke cross for his 72nd international goal, but the Three Lions had few clear-cut chances.

England next face Senegal in a friendly at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground on Tuesday and Tuchel expects a better performance.

“I think we started well in the first 20 or 25 minutes,” he added. “We created a lot of chances and half chances, and we lost completely the momentum and couldn’t get it back in the first half.

“Got a little bit [back] in the second half, but then ended up in a place that was not good enough in terms of urgency.

“We can just admit that, it’s not what we expect from us. We need to look at it in detail and do better on Tuesday.”

There were some mitigating circumstances for England’s lethargic display.

The match came at the end of a long domestic campaign for many of the players and was also played in hot and humid conditions in Barcelona – this fixture played there because Andorra’s national stadium was unavailable after the recent Games of the Small States of Europe.

But those watching clearly expected England to put in a more convincing performance against a side they had beaten six times previously by an aggregate score of 25-0.

“It looked like some of the players were bored in the last half an hour,” former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland captain Roy Keane told ITV.

“Go and get some more goals and impress the manager who is still new to the job.”

Ex-England defender Lee Dixon added: “They will be getting pelters no doubt about that.

“When you are fourth [in the rankings] and they are 173rd you expect to beat them handsomely, but that wasn’t the case.”

Former Manchester City midfielder Michael Brown agreed the performance was poor, but the priority was to get the job done in the bid for qualification to next year’s finals.

“It was a big disappointment but they did the job and won the game,” he said on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“It could have been a lot more convincing in attacking positions. There is going to be criticism because of the team we were up against, but it is job done, move on to the next one.” (BBC)

Tag: Andorra

France among six more countries to formally recognise Palestinian statehood

“We lacked seriousness” – Tuchel criticises England “attitude”