France mulls recognising Palestinian state
FRANCE: President Nicolas Sarkozy hosted Palestinian leader Mahmud
Abbas in Paris on Thursday as France told the United Nations that Europe
was considering giving formal recognition to a Palestinian state.
“Recognition of the state of Palestine is one of the options which
France is considering, with its European partners, with a view to
creating a political horizon for relaunching the peace process,” French
ambassador Gerard Araud told a UN Security Council debate on the Middle
East.
His statement came as Abbas was in the French capital to seek
Sarkozy’s “advice”, in his own words, on the Palestinian Authority’s bid
to convince the world to accept its statehood even ahead of an ever
elusive peace deal.
Any move to welcome a Palestinian state into the community of nations
would be seen as an attempt to give a jolt to peace talks with Israel
that stalled last September after Israel refused to extend a moratorium
on settlements.
Abbas told the French daily le Figaro that US President Barack Obama
“should” propose a peace plan ahead of a September deadline previously
set for an accord to create a Palestinian state.
“The United States, as the big power, has the duty to make proposals.
It is they who can convince Israel,” he said in an interview to be
published on Friday.
European ambassadors at the UN Security Council, meanwhile, called
for “bold” US leadership to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as
Britain also indicated that state recognition could be considered.
“Nothing is off the table with regard to recognition in September,”
said a British spokesman.
Pressure has mounted on Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu amid heightened Palestinian-Israeli hostilities and a US block
on European attempts to break the deadlock.
Abbas told France 24 television that, while he hoped to return to
talks with Israel, he thought most European governments were ready to
recognise a Palestinian state come what may.
“All the signs from these organisations and states show that they’re
waiting for the right moment to recognise us,” he said, while admitting
there have been no outright promises to do so.
Sarkozy has not recently taken a position on the issue, having
distanced himself in January last year from his then foreign minister
Bernard Kouchner’s suggestion that France might unilaterally recognise
Palestine.
But Abbas’ visit comes at a time when France, which holds the G8 and
G20 presidencies, is adopting a more muscular foreign policy designed to
revive its global role, in particular its position in the Arab world.
France led international calls for action against Moamer Kadhafi’s
Libyan regime, spearheading coalition air strikes and becoming the first
power to adopt ties with the rebel shadow government in Benghazi.
Paris backs the goal of statehood by the time of the UN General
Assembly in September. But, as ever, profound differences remain between
Israeli and Palestinian camps that could yet delay a vote. Ongoing
Jewish settlement construction in the occupied West Bank claimed by
Palestinians has sharpened divisions, but the wider international
community is also divided on how best to push the talks forward.
The Middle East Quartet — a diplomatic body overseeing the peace
“roadmap” made up of Russia, the European Union, the United Nations and
the United States — postponed a meeting that had been scheduled for
April 15.
PARIS, Friday, AFP |