Canada follows the plunge to France and undertakes to recognize the state of Palestine at the next United Nations General Assembly in September.
“This intention is based on the will of the Palestinian authority to conduct essential reforms, in particular, the promise of its president Mahmoud Abbas to organize general elections in 2026 and not to militarize the Palestinian state,” said Mark Carney at a press conference in Ottawa on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister came to this conclusion after a virtual meeting of his Council of Ministers on Wednesday afternoon, organized urgently to discuss the catastrophic situation in Gaza and the world reaction.
The United Nations evokes a “generalized famine” while the number of deaths has exceeded the threshold of the 60,000 since the start of the Israeli offensive in October 2023, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Even President Donald Trump spoke of a “real famine” in the Gaza Strip.
The pressure rises
Pressure on the Canadian government has set up a notch in the past few weeks as reports on famine now omnipresent in the Gaza Strip.
Nearly 200 former Canadian diplomats, including two former ambassadors in Israel, sent a letter to Mark Carney inviting him to recognize a Palestinian state.
The pressure even comes from the intern: a handful of liberal deputies members of the government implored their leader to act decisively.
In the morning of Wednesday, Minister Anita Anand published a statement requesting, among other things, a cease-fire and the release of captive Israeli hostages from Hamas.
Of the movement in Europe
To everyone’s surprise, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, announced last Thursday that France would recognize the state of Palestine at the next United Nations General Assembly in September.
It would make France the first G7 country to recognize Palestine as a state.
It was Keir Starmer’s turn yesterday, the British Prime Minister, to tighten the tone towards Israel.
“I have always said that we would recognize a Palestinian state as a contribution to a real peace process, when it would have the most impact for a two -state solution. Now that this solution is threatened, it’s time to act, “said Starmer on Tuesday, after an emergency meeting for his government.
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu accused the United Kingdom and France of “rewarding terrorism”.