After giving a press conference alongside Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Emmanuel Macron spoke with the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.
A symbolic visit. After his visit to Israel, Emmanuel Macron went to Ramallah, in the West Bank, to meet with President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas, this Tuesday, October 24. At the end of the interview, the French president expressed to the Palestinian leader his “condolences to the Palestinian people” as well as “to all the victims of the spiral of violence caused by the Hamas terrorist attack”.
For Emmanuel Macron, the Hamas attack against Israel is “also a catastrophe for the Palestinians”, stressing that “nothing can justify the suffering” of civilians in Gaza. “A Palestinian life is worth a French life which is worth an Israeli life,” he added.
“We share the same position, the rejection of all violence,” continued Emmanuel Macron. “Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people. France maintains its support for Palestinian civil society and the Palestinian Authority,” he underlined, announcing “exceptional aid” from France for Palestine.
“Complete ceasefire”
Mahmoud Abbas, for his part, called for a “total ceasefire” on the Gaza Strip, denouncing the “responsibility of Israel and those who encouraged the country to continue its acts of aggression” on Gaza.
“We urge you, President Macron, to stop this aggression,” he said, calling for the establishment of “an international coalition for peace” and the holding of an “international peace conference », seeming to respond indirectly to the proposal, subsequently reiterated by Emmanuel Macron, to set up an “international coalition” to fight against Hamas.
Mahmoud Abbas also condemned in very harsh terms the bombings carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip “which are killing innocent civilians in a barbaric manner”.
Relaunch of the peace process
Before Mahmoud Abbas, Emmanuel Macron once again pleaded for a relaunch of a political process between Israel and the Palestinians, as he had done earlier in the day in Jerusalem. He considered that the future of the Palestinians required a “merciless and unambiguous” fight against terrorism, and insisted on the mutual recognition of the rights of Israel and the Palestinians.
“There will be no lasting peace if there is no recognition of the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to have a territory and a state. There will be no lasting peace if there is not the assumed recognition on the part of the Palestinian people and their authorities of a State of Israel and of the importance of its existence and its security. , he said.
Upon his arrival at Tel Aviv airport this Tuesday morning, Emmanuel Macron met families of French or Franco-Israeli people killed, disappeared or held hostage in the Gaza Strip. He then spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he urged to lead against Hamas “a fight without mercy but not without rules”.
He also called on Israel to “restore electricity” to hospitals in Gaza, ensuring that it would build “concrete cooperation” on this subject in the coming days.
After the meeting in Ramallah with President of the Palestinian Authority, Emmanuel Macron must continue his diplomatic trip to go to Amman, “probably” to meet King Abdullah II of Jordan and “perhaps other leaders in the region” , indicated the Élysée.