France to assist in drafting ‘Palestinian constitution,’ President Macron announces as PA leader Abbas visits Paris

France will help the Palestinian Authority draft a constitution for a future state, President Emmanuel Macron said while receiving PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris for a meeting on Tuesday.

Macron, who has spearheaded an effort to garner recognition for a “State of Palestine,” including at the UN General Assembly in September, said France and the PA will set up a joint committee to improve a first draft, which Abbas presented to him.

“This committee will be responsible for working on all legal aspects: constitutional, institutional and organizational,” Macron told reporters.

France and other nations, particularly Arab states, continue to support the handing over of the administration of the Gaza Strip to the PA, after the authority undergoes reforms.

Israel has strongly opposed any involvement of the PA in the future of Gaza, while the U.S. conditioned it on significant reforms being implemented.

Abbas stressed after the meeting with Macron that he is committed to carrying out these reforms, including “holding presidential and parliamentary elections after the end of the war.”

Abbas has held quasi-dictatorial powers in the PA-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) since the last elections in those areas were carried out in 2005. Since that time, he has postponed several planned elections.

“We are nearing completion of a draft of the provisional constitution of the state of Palestine and the laws on elections and political parties,” Abbas said, adding that he agreed “to the swift establishment of the constitutional committee.”

“We are committed to a culture of dialogue and peace,” the president said. “And we want a democratic, unarmed state committed to the rule of law, transparency, justice, pluralism and the rotation of power.”

Macron vowed to continue France’s assistance to the PA by transferring 100 million euros ($US116.62 million) in humanitarian aid to Gaza this year.

According to a senior French official quoted by the Times of Israel, France also raised its concerns to the PA regarding reports of payments made to Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel, despite the PA’s assurances that its “pay-for-slay” practice had been stopped.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar had claimed that Abbas is “trying to fool the world by dismissing PA Finance Minister Omar Bitar over payments made to Palestinian security prisoners.

Despite the PA’s efforts to create the impression that it has ended the so-called “pay-for-slay” program, recent reports and statements in Arabic by PA officials indicate that the program has merely been modified to avoid international scrutiny, but not scrapped.

Macron later told reporters that Abbas had committed to allowing an American company to audit the PA to confirm there were no more such payments.

The PA is expecting an American team to arrive at the start of next year to launch the audit, a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel on Monday.

During the joint press conference, Macron also reiterated his warnings against any Israeli annexations in Judea and Samaria.

“Plans for partial or total annexation, whether legal or de facto, constitute a red line to which we will respond strongly with our European partners,” he said.

“The violence of the settlers and the acceleration of settlement projects are reaching new heights, threatening the stability of the West Bank and constituting violations of international law,” Macron added.