Palestinian president calls for Hamas to surrender weapons

ISLAMABAD: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Monday for Hamas to surrender its weapons to his forces while condemning the group's deadly attack on Israel in an address to a UN summit on a two-state solution, according to AFP.

"Hamas will have no role in governing (Gaza). Hamas and other factions must surrender their weapons to the Palestinian Authority," he said via video link, having been denied a visa to attend by the United States.

"We also condemn the killing and detention of civilians, including Hamas actions on October 7, 2023."

Earlier, the UN General Assembly on September 19 adopted a resolution allowing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address next week’s high-level debate by pre-recorded video after the United States refused to issue visas for Palestine’s delegation, according to UN News.

It set out procedures for the delivery of pre-recorded statements, authorizing President Abbas to submit his address via video in the General Assembly Hall, introduced by one of Palestine’s New York-based representatives.

Separately, France also recognized the Palestinian state, joining Western allies such as Britain and Canada, who made the same historic move on Sunday and were rebuked by Israel, according to Reuters.

"We must do everything within our power to preserve the very possibility of a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security," the summit host, French President Emmanuel Macron, said at the beginning of a planned three-hour session at the United Nations.

Who recognizes the State of Palestine, who doesn't?

According to an AFP tally, at least 151 countries out of 193 UN members now recognize the State of Palestine, nearly 80 per cent of UN members.

AFP has not obtained recent confirmation from three African countries.

Six European nations — France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Andorra and Monaco — added their names to the list with statements at the UN on Monday.

The day before, the United Kingdom and Canada became the first G7 countries to make such a recognition, with Australia and Portugal also following suit.

Russia, alongside all Arab countries, almost all African and Latin American states, and most Asian nations — including India and China — are already on the list.

Algeria became the first country to officially recognize a Palestinian state on November 15, 1988, minutes after late Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat unilaterally proclaimed an independent Palestinian state.

Dozens of other countries followed in the ensuing weeks and months, and another wave of recognitions came in late 2010 and early 2011.

The Israeli offensive in Gaza, which was sparked by the Palestinian fighter organization Hamas's attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, has now pushed another 19 countries to recognize the state.

However, at least 39 countries, including Israel, the United States and their allies do not recognize the State of Palestine.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government completely rejects the idea of a Palestinian state.

Among Asia nations, Japan, South Korea and Singapore are among those that do not recognize Palestine.

Neither do Cameroon in Africa, Panama in Latin America and most countries in Oceania.

Until recently, Europe was the most divided continent on the issue, with only Turkey and former Soviet bloc countries recognizing Palestinian statehood until the mid-2010s.

Some former members of the Eastern bloc, like Hungary and the Czech Republic, still do not recognize it at a bilateral level.

Western and northern Europe were once united in their lack of recognition, with the exception of Sweden, which extended it in 2014.

But the war in Gaza has upended things, with Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia following in Sweden's footsteps in 2024, before the additions of recent days.

Italy and Germany do not plan on recognizing a Palestinian state.

What does recognition mean?

Romain Le Boeuf, a professor in international law at the University of Aix-Marseille in southern France, described recognition of Palestinian statehood as "one of the most complicated questions" in international law, "a little like a halfway point" between the political and legal.

He told AFP that states were free to choose the timing and form of recognition, with wide variations.

According to Le Boeuf, there is no office to register recognitions.

"The Palestinian Authority in the West Bank puts all they consider to be acts of recognition on its own list, but from a purely subjective point of view. In the same way, other states will say that they have or have not recognized it, but without really having to justify themselves," he said.

However, there is one point on which international law is quite clear: "Recognition does not mean that a state has been created, no more than the lack of recognition prevents the state from existing."

While recognition carries largely symbolic and political weight, three-quarters of countries say "that Palestine meets all the necessary conditions to be a state", he said.

"I know for many people this seems only symbolic, but actually in terms of symbolism, it is sort of a game changer," lawyer and Franco-British law professor Philippe Sands told a New York Times podcast in August.

"Because once you recognize Palestinian statehood [...] you essentially put Palestine and Israel on level footing in terms of their treatment under international law."

Western nations offer to assist with treating patients from Gaza in West Bank

Separately, Canada, France, Germany and some other Western and European countries made an offer on Monday to provide financial contributions, medical staff or equipment needed to treat patients from Gaza in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

"We strongly appeal to Israel to restore the medical corridor to the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, so medical evacuations from Gaza can be resumed and patients can get the treatment that they so urgently need on Palestinian territory," the countries said in a joint statement released by Canada.

Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the European Union and Poland were among the two dozen signatories of the statement. The United States was not listed as a signatory.