The Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7 has increased France’s determination to push for the creation of a Palestinian state, French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne told reporters in Jerusalem on Monday.
“After the horrors of October 7, no one is thinking of rewarding terrorism,” he said.
“But no one among Israel’s friends imagines continuing to manage the Palestinian question without seeking to resolve it. And this will involve a Palestinian state,” he said.
Sejourne, who took up his post only last month, is making his first trip to the Middle East, which included stops in Jordan and Egypt before his arrival Sunday in Israel.
He has been focused, in part, on the Israel-Hamas war and plans for Gaza the day after the war ends, as well as the issue of securing the release of the 136 Israeli hostages and preventing an escalation of the conflict on Israel’s northern border.
France wants peace and security to finally become a “tangible and lasting reality” for Israelis and Palestinians alike. “Everyone is entitled to it and I think it’s time” for that to occur, he said.
Recognizing Palestinian statehood
When asked by The Jerusalem Post whether France was prepared to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood, Sejourne said, “the question of recognition” was connected to a peace process, but he did not rule it out.“There is no taboo on this issue. It could be discussed as part of the political discussions that will take place between Israel and Palestinian leaders.”
Sejourne arrived as many on the Israeli Right, including in the government, are explaining that the Hamas-led October 7 massacre is the reason that a Palestinian state cannot be created and that the IDF must retain security control of Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated that the Palestinian Authority, which could not prevent Hamas’s violent seizure of the enclave in 2007, should not be tasked with its security now. He has called for new Palestinian governance, particularly in light of the PA’s support for terrorism and its education material that incites against Israel,
Several prominent Israeli politicians have called for the voluntary resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza and for the reconstruction of the settlements that Israel destroyed there when it withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
“There can, in no situation, be a forced displacement of Palestinians, either from Gaza or from the West Bank. The future of the Gaza Strip is inseparable from that of the West Bank,” Sejourne said, as he spoke of a future Palestinian state that would link the two territories.
“We must prepare for this future by supporting the Palestinian Authority... which must be returned as soon as possible to the Gaza Strip. I repeat: Gaza is Palestinian territory,” Sejourne said.
He stressed that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can only be resolved through a comprehensive diplomatic agreement for the two states, with mutual recognition by both governments and which takes into account Israeli security concerns.
Without two states there can be “no just and lasting peace in the Middle East” which will continue in its spiral of violence that is fatal for the region, he said.
For this state to come into existence, the PA and the Palestinian people must be supported, he said.
Sejourne said that France took the October 7 Hamas attack personally, as he recalled that 42 French nationals were murdered in the massacre in Israel, in which 1,200 people were slaughtered and another 253 seized as hostages.
There are over 130 captives still held in Gaza, out of which three have dual Israeli-French citizenship.
“We share this terrible ordeal with Israel,” he said, as he noted that his government plans to pay tribute to the October 7 victims during a special ceremony on February 7.
“All hostages must be released unconditionally, we have not forgotten them. We will fight to the end to obtain their release,” he stated.
Sejourne said that France also took seriously Hamas’s sexual violence against the victims, including rape. France, he said, was donating 200,000 Euros to Israel’s Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel (ACCRI).
In light of October 7, France strongly supports Israel’s right to defend itself. but he stressed that this should not come at the expense of Palestinians in Gaza.
Hamas has assured that over 26,000 have been killed in war-related violence, and Israel has asserted that over 9,000 of those fatalities are combatants.
“For four months now, Gazans have been under bombardment, experiencing an almost absolute siege. They are deprived of the minimum aid that would allow them to treat their wounds, to protect themselves against epidemics.“They cannot leave the Gaza enclave, they are massed near Rafah. Nothing can justify such a tragedy either. The ongoing tragedy in Gaza must end.
“We demand respect for international humanitarian law by all, an immediate and lasting ceasefire, and the massive entry of humanitarian aid.
“This is necessary to put an end to the suffering of civilians but also for the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip” who must be freed, he said.
It is also important to ensure that violence doesn’t escalate in the West Bank, as he highlighted in particular settler violence against innocent Palestinians. France, he said, condemns such violence and statements by Israeli politicians that incite against Palestinians or call for “the commission of war crimes.”
A source from Sejourne’s entourage said, “We know that the medications effectively entered into Gaza. The modalities of their transfer to the hostages were dealt under Qatar’s mediation. We now expect to receive verifiable proof that the medications have reached their beneficiaries.
“The responsibility lays on Hamas and is a matter of regular exchanges with Qatari authorities,” the source stated.