Frustration, Gaza alarm drove Macron to go it alone on Palestine recognition

By John Irish and Michel Rose

PARIS (Reuters) -President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement that France would become the first Western member of the United Nations Security Council to recognise a Palestinian state in September has caused diplomatic ructions from the Middle East through Europe to Washington.

But it did not come out of the blue.

When Macron visited the Egyptian town of Al-Arish on the border with Gaza in April, he was struck by the mounting humanitarian crisis and made clear on his…