PARIS: President of France Emmanuel Macron has urged Palestinian Authority chief Mahmud Abbas to implement essential reforms, offering the prospect of recognition of Palestine statehood during a phone call on Wednesday, said his office.
Macron’s Elysee Palace said the president highlighted Paris’s commitment to building a common vision of peace with European and Arab allies, offering security guarantees for Palestinians and Israelis, as well as making the prospect of Palestine recognition a useful process.
The development comes after the official recognition of a Palestinian state by Spain, Ireland and Norway, which drew the ire from Israel.
Macron had said that he would be prepared to recognize a Palestinian state, but such a move should come at the right time without emotion.
France supports reformed Palestinian Authority
France backs a strengthened and reformed Palestinian Authority, able to carry out its responsibilities all over Palestinian territories, including in the Gaza Strip, for the benefit of the people of Palestine people, Macron told Abbas, according to the Elysee Palace readout.
Abbas’s office in a statement said that he voiced the Palestinian government’s commitment to “reform” during talks with Macron.
He called on European states that have not recognized the state of Palestine to do so.
According to Gaza health ministry Israel’s offensive has killed at least 36,171 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
Macron termed civilian casualties “intolerable” and offered his sincere condolences to the Palestinian people for the bombing of a displaced people’s tent in Rafah.
He told Abbas that France was determined to work closely with Algeria and its allies on the UN Security Council so the global body could make a strong statement on Rafah.
