France still backs two states, Hollande tells Jewish confab

Palestinian state ‘only guarantee‘ for Israel to stay pluralist, democratic, French president says at CRIF event

By AFP 23 February 2017, 8:49 am
French President Francois Hollande gives a speech during the 32nd annual dinner of the Jewish Institutions Representative Council (Conseil Representatif des Institutions Juives de France - CRIF) in Paris, on February 22, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Christophe Petit Tesson

PARIS — France is committed to a two-state solution for the Middle East conflict, President Francois Hollande said Wednesday, a week after Donald Trump broke with international consensus by stepping back from the goal.

The French leader, addressing an event hosted by the CRIF umbrella grouping of Jewish organisations, said a two-state solution was the only guarantee for Israel to remain a “pluralist and democratic society”.

His comments follow the US president’s shift away from an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The two-state solution has long been the cornerstone of US and international policy and Trump’s row-back met with hostility from other world powers when he made his remarks last week.

French President Francois Hollande (2nd-L) shakes hands with French presidential candidate for the left-wing French Socialist Party (PS) Benoit Hamon (2nd-R) during the 32nd annual dinner of the Jewish Institutions Representative Council (Conseil Representatif des Institutions Juives de France – CRIF) in Paris, on February 22, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / POOL / Christophe Petit Tesson

Hollande said there was only one way to have peace in the Middle East and that was to have Israel and Palestine side by side.

He said it was up to the Israelis and Palestinians to come to an agreement on each issue, especially on the status of Jerusalem.

France would continue to monitor freedom of access and worship for Jews, Christians and Muslims in the holy city, he told the audience.

“This is the French position and I’m sure it won’t change,” he added, weeks before he is due to leave office.

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