France claims PA President Abbas ‘condemned’ Oct 7, shows ‘real willingness’ to implement 2-state solution

According to the French government, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack and is showing “genuine willingness” to implement a two-state solution.

The French statement comes just over a week before an international conference in New York from June 17–21, chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, during which the two countries could potentially announce their official recognition of a Palestinian state.

The Élysée Palace said on Tuesday morning that it received assurances in a letter Abbas sent to French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ahead of the conference.

Abbas is said to have presented “concrete and unprecedented commitments” that “indicate a genuine willingness to advance the implementation of the two-state solution.”

The Palestinian President also said that “what Hamas did on October 7, 2023, when it murdered and took civilians hostage, is a disgraceful and unacceptable act,” and called on the terror group “to immediately release all the hostages and detainees.”

He further expressed support for Hamas “laying down its arms and no longer ruling in Gaza.”

Emphasizing his willingness to involve international actors in a potential future Palestinian state, Abbas also said he would welcome the deployment of “Arab and international” security forces under a UN Security Council mandate and said a future Palestinian state “has no intention of being a military state.”

“We are ready to fully fulfill our part in establishing a credible path to end the occupation and advance toward achieving an independent and sovereign Palestinian state and implementing the two-state solution, within a clear timetable and with strong international guarantees,” Abbas wrote.

The official title of the conference will be: “The High Level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution.”

France has threatened to turn the conference into an event meant to galvanize international support for a Palestinian state through a public recognition. However, a report by the Guardian suggested that France somewhat weakened its ambitions in this regard.

While Macron has declared recognition of Palestine as “a moral duty and political requirement,” diplomats told the Guardian that France hopes it can reach agreements on joint steps toward recognition by several countries.

However, on Monday, a French diplomatic source rejected the report: “We clearly see that some have an interest in indicating that we are not moving towards the recognition of Palestine. That is false,“ the Times of Israel cited the source as saying.

“Our goal for this conference indeed goes beyond the question of recognition. It is indeed about recreating an international consensus around the two-state solution, which allows for a lasting resolution to the conflict. The recognition of the State of Palestine is consistent with France’s position in support of the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians. As part of the conference… it must make a useful contribution to the dynamics of implementing the two states, based on the principles reiterated by [Macron],” the source said.

The planned conference is set to become the new high point of the recently escalating tensions between Israel and France over the Gaza War. Last week, the Foreign Ministry accused Macron of being on a “crusade against the Jewish state.”

Amid the recent tensions with Israel, the French Interior Ministry released a report titled “Muslim Brothers and Political Islam in France,” which recommends recognizing a Palestinian state to calm “the frustrations” of French Muslims, while stressing the “imminent threat” posed by the Muslim Brotherhood to national security.

The French conservative intellectual Michel Gurfinkiel told Jewish Insider, “The main point of the report is not what it says about the Muslim Brotherhood. The real point is the conclusion that the French government should make efforts to bring French Muslims into the French fold, and that means … to recognize a state of Palestine.”