“We need to move towards recognition (of a Palestinian state). And so over the next few months, we will. I’m not doing it to please anyone. I’ll do it because at some point it will be right,” he said during a interview on France 5 television.

“And because I also want to take part in a collective dynamic that should also enable those who defend Palestine to recognise Israel in their turn, something that many of them are not doing.”

Even though Palestine has been recognised as a sovereign state by almost 150 countries, most major Western powers have not, including the US, Britain, France, Germany and Japan.

Among countries that do not recognise Israel are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

“Our objective is somewhere in June, with Saudi Arabia, to chair this conference where we could finalise the movement towards reciprocal recognition by several countries,” Macron said.