Canada joins other countries in recognizing a Palestinian state ahead of UN General Assembly

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TORONTO (AP) — Canada recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday, despite opposition from the U.S, with the hope it paves the way for peace based on two states living side by side.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on the social platform X that Canada had recognized a Palestinian state. Britain and Australia also announced that they were doing the same on Sunday.

“The current Israeli government is working methodically to prevent the prospect of a Palestinian state from ever being established,” Carney said in a statement.

“It has pursued an unrelenting policy of settlement expansion in the West Bank, which is illegal under international law. Its sustained assault in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of civilians, displaced well over one million people, and caused a devastating and preventable famine in violation of international law. It is now the avowed policy of the current Israeli government that ‘there will be no Palestinian state’.”

Carney had already said in late July he would do so as many Western countries are increasingly dismayed by the intensifying war in Gaza.

The moves by Canada, the U.K. and Australia prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to say that the establishment of a Palestinian state “will not happen,” while Hamas urged the international community to isolate Israel.

Netanyahu, who is set to give a speech to the General Assembly on Friday before heading to see U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, said he would announce Israel’s response after the trip.

Trump had previously threatened Canada, saying Canada’s announcement “will make it very hard” for the United States to reach a trade agreement with its northern neighbor.

The moves by the longtime commonwealth allies come ahead of the U.N. General Assembly this week. France is also expected to recognize a Palestinian state.

The formal recognition of Palestinian statehood by Western countries has angered Israel and the United States, which say recognition emboldens extremists and rewards Hamas, the group that led the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks into southern Israel that triggered the war.

Pressure to formally recognize Palestinian statehood has increased since French President Emmanuel Macron announced this summer that his country will become the first major Western power to do so in September.

Macron is to formally declare France’s recognition of a Palestinian state on Monday at a United Nations conference in New York co-chaired with Saudi Arabia, at the start of the U.N. General Assembly.

More than 145 countries already recognize a Palestinian state, including more than a dozen in Europe.

Carney has previously said Canada is working with other states “to preserve the possibility of a two-state solution, to not allow the facts on the ground, deaths on the ground, the settlements on the ground, the expropriations on the ground, to get to such an extent that this is not possible.”

Netanyahu’s government rejects a two-state solution.

Canada has long supported the idea of an independent Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, but has said recognition should come as part of a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict.

“This in no way legitimizes terrorism, nor is it any reward for it," Carney said in his statement. “Furthermore, it in no way compromises Canada’s steadfast support for the State of Israel, its people, and their security — security that can only ultimately be guaranteed through the achievement of a comprehensive two-state solution.”

Israeli bombardment over the past 23 months has killed more than 65,100 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, destroyed vast areas of the strip, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.

Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than half believed to still be alive. Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 others.