France to back Palestinian UN bid but UK, Germany, Italy still unclear

France is to back the Palestinian bid for non-member observer state status at the UN when it comes to a vote at the end of the week. But European Union members have failed to reach a common position and the US and Israel remain resolutely opposed.

Reuters/Ammar Awad

Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour welcomed the announcement by Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius on Tuesday, adding that he was sure that "many other European countries will follow the example of France”.

Fabius told the French National Assembly on Tuesday that France had backed such a status for the Palestinians since 1982 when Socialist president François Mitterrand raised the possibility before the Israeli parliament.

The proposal was also one of François Hollande presidential campaign promises, he pointed out.

"That is why when the question is raised on Thursday and Friday, France will respond with a 'yes'," he said.

Fabius on Wednesday denied reports that he had fallen out with the president on the question.

When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited France in October Hollande spoke of the “temptation for the Palestinians to seek at the UN general assembly what they cannot obtain through negotiation”, adding “only negotiation can arrive at a definitive solution of the situation in Palestine”.

And in November, ahead of a visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, he mentioned supposed “risks” facing the Palestinians.

After Fabius’s speech Israel said that it expected France to back the bid, while the US said it “obviously” disagreed with Paris’s stance.

Austria, Denmark and Spain have announced they will back the bid but Fabius said that the French have failed to come up with a common stance in meetings with the British, Germans and Italians.

On Tuesday the UK had not yet decided how to vote and was urging the Palestinians to put off their application, according to its UN ambassador Mark Lyall Grant.