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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that Western countries recognizing the state of Palestine, including France, the United Kingdom and Canada, will play little role in ending Israel’s war in Gaza or shaping the peace process.
Speaking on NBC’s Today program, Rubio insisted the U.S. remains central to any resolution.
“Their goal is not to end the war, but to have peace. And you can’t have peace as long as Hamas exists,” he said.
Rubio argued that Gaza’s future lies in reconstruction with U.S. and international support, dismissing concerns over recent recognitions of Palestinian statehood.
“None of the countries really will play much of a role in bringing about the end of this conflict in Gaza,” he said.
He described the recognitions as driven by domestic politics. “It really is them responding to their own protesters in the streets,” he said.
“But it is also a reward for Hamas. It makes Hamas feel like they carried out this massacre on Oct. 7th, and now they get this in return. But it really won’t be relevant at the end of the day.”
Rubio repeated that recognition efforts were symbolic and external to actual negotiations.
“The truth of the matter is that any future resolution of this matter with Israel is going to have to be negotiated. It’s not going to be up to France or the U.K. or any other country,” he said.
In a separate interview on CBS’s Mornings, Rubio was asked if he supported a two-state solution.
“The future of the Palestinian people living alongside the Jewish people in Israel is something that everyone knows is going to have to be negotiated,” he said.
“From the Israeli standpoint, if there’s going to be a state, you need to know, well, who’s the government of that state?”
Canada, Australia, the U.K., and Portugal announced recognition of Palestine on Sept. 21, followed by France on Sept. 22. Luxembourg, Belgium, Andorra, Malta, Monaco and San Marino joined the list on Monday at a high-level summit in New York, just ahead of the 80th U.N. General Assembly session.
In total, 159 of the U.N.’s 193 member states now recognize Palestinian statehood, since the late leader Yasser Arafat first proclaimed it from Algiers in 1988.
The Israeli military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,300 Palestinians—most of them women and children—since October 2023, according to local authorities.
The enclave has been devastated by months of bombardment, famine and outbreaks of disease.
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