Macron lays out details of peace plan after recognizing Palestine

French President Emanuel Macron, speaking at the UN, lays out some details of France’s peace plan that it is advancing in parallel to its recognition of a Palestinian state.

He urges Israel not to take further actions that thwart the effort and stresses that it will include the dismantlement of Hamas.

He says an International Stabilization Force (ISF) will assist in that effort and in preparing the Palestinian Authority to take over governance in the Gaza Strip. The Times of Israel revealed the proposal earlier today.

France stands ready to contribute to ISF and to support allies in training PA forces, Macron says, adding that the international mission could be deployed immediately through a UN Security Council resolution and with the consent of Israel.

Turning to his expectations of the PA, Macron says, “It’ll be up to the State of Palestine to give hope to its people,” recalling PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s June commitments to France and Saudi Arabia to implement far-reaching reforms aimed, among other things, at promoting democratic expression.

He recalls that Abbas condemned Hamas’s October 7 attack in the June letter to Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which paved the way to Paris’s recognition of Palestine.

Those commitments included the disarmament of Hamas, excluding the terror group from future governance, combating hate speech and implementing an in-depth overhaul of Palestinian governance.

France will pay close attention to the full implementation of these commitments, Macron says.

Critically, Macron reveals that he will hold off on opening a French embassy in Palestine until after the hostages are released and a ceasefire in Gaza has been reached.

As for Israel, the French president says that France will tie its cooperation with Jerusalem to the steps Israel takes to end the war and advance peace.

“We expect our Arab partners to engage with Israel and normalize with Israel as soon as the State of Palestine has been established,” he says.

While Macron recognizes Israeli “sadness and fatigue,” he insists that recognizing a Palestinian state is in the interest of peace.

He recalls his sadness at first hearing about former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin’s 1995 assassination, and asserts that, like then, another opportunity for peace has arisen.

“The time has come to end the war in Gaza, the massacres and the death. Right now,” Macron asserts.

“The time has come for Israel to live in peace and security — from the Galilee to the Dead Sea and the Lake of Tiberias and Jerusalem,” he says.

“The time has come to no longer talk about the existence of Israel. It is self-evident. The time has come to do justice for the Palestinian people and thus to recognize the State of Palestine in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem,” he adds.