Ofer Bronchtein, French President Emmanuel Macron’s envoy for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, recently visited Israel. Born in Beersheba, he now spends his time in Paris in service of the French government.
He described his role as an envoy for the strengthening of ties between Israelis and Palestinians. Although strained, Bronchtein said, these ties still existed.
“Israelis don’t want to hear about Palestinians, and Palestinians don’t want to hear about Israelis,” he said as Israeli forces were expanding their renewed operation in Gaza.
In service of Israel
Bronchtein sees his identity as mainly Jewish, even within the multitude of various European ones, which he said amalgamate into a singular “European identity.” Still, he defines his view of Judaism as a universal one – one that values life above anything else.
He recalled the time when he worked for prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in promoting the Oslo Accords, sharing his involvement in bringing an Israeli delegation to meet Yasser Arafat, who was then the leader of the PLO, in Tunis.
Bronchtein discussed the relationship between Rabin and Arafat, the trust the latter had in the former, and the frustration following Rabin’s assassination. Rabin’s killing had the Oslo process derailed, per Bronchtein.
In retrospect, when taking into consideration Rabin’s assassination and the ensuing terrorist attacks launched at the time by Hamas, he said he could see the failure inherent to the Oslo Accords.
“The big mistake of Oslo was that the vision was for the short-term instead of asking what is going to happen 20 years from now,” Bronchtein continued.
Another mistake he pointed out was a supposed gradual change through a timely plan and the division of the areas still known to date as areas A, B, and C.
“We should have put all the issues on the table – resolve all of it once and for all.”
And yet, Bronchtein said it could have been possible to reach a peace agreement. He explained that the goal was to have people from both sides be friends and involved in each other’s lives as good neighbors.
He outlined the goal of the Oslo Accords as having peace – Israelis would make Palestinian friends who would come to their homes for Passover and vice versa – Palestinians would invite Israelis over for Ramadan.
“This is not the reality, and that is very sad,” Bronchtein said.
Thinking outside the box
He became an adviser to Macron in 2020, given that, according to Bronchtein, he was an outside-the-box thinker. He sees himself as an immigrant, not a diplomat, who seeks the positives of bringing people together under the umbrella of Europe.
Even after admitting to Oslo’s failure, he could not see any other solution but a two-state one. However, Bronchtein did wonder what such a Palestinian state would look like – to him, the matter of a Palestinian state was not a question of territory but of bringing pride, independence, and liberty to Palestinians.
Bronchtein said that even Hamas did not think Israel’s response would be “so radical,” and he regretted that the people of Gaza were suffering for it.
Still, he said he believed that both sides had a responsibility to find a solution. He added that in his own conversations with his Israeli and Palestinian friends, there was much to disagree on, but they still tried to work through issues together.
Bronchtein also said he did not shy away from differences. On the contrary, he even visited Israeli settlements and has friends who are settlers. He clarified that he wanted to meet both Israelis and Palestinians from all walks of life for one single reason – to give him an idea for peace.
Peace – differently
Bronchtein recalled how he worked with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996 to form a forum of Israeli and Palestinian parliamentarians and said it was a fantastic experience. Now, he sees a new opportunity to ignite a new initiative.
Bronchtein detailed his idea for the day after the war, which he called “Peace – differently.”“There are better chances to succeed now,” he said. As the war ends, “both societies will have to lick their very deep wounds,” and the October 7 massacre and its repercussions will be remembered well, as they will change the entire dynamic of the Middle East, not only the Israeli-Palestinian one, according to Bronchtein.
Regarding the topic of a two-state solution post-October 7, the French president’s envoy said that a Palestinian state should not be seen as gifting the Palestinians anything after the attacks.
Bronchtein wanted Israelis to look at their own interests together with those of the other side.
Further, he disagreed with the assumption that US President Donald Trump did not want a two-state solution and believed that people may still be surprised by Trump.
For Bronchtein, the most painful thing about the current situation is the dehumanization caused by either side. From his perspective, this is the reason each side treats the other badly. In Bronchtein’s view, wallowing in the failures of the past 100 years won’t change the future of the two people.
He wants elected officials to think about the next generations and the need to create a community. Bronchtein expressed a desire for both sides to “sit at the table and resolve [their] issues.”
Poverty, ignorance, and the use of weapons were humanity’s greatest foes, he also said.
Racism is Racism
Separately, he criticized the invitation of far-right parties from Europe to the Conference on Combating Antisemitism hosted by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry. He said that the people behind the nice faces in these far-right parties were not to be trusted.
Further, Bronchtein said that their supposed support of Israel must not be a justification for supporting far-right parties. He criticized Jews who voted for far-right parties based on their hatred of Muslim people as well, saying that after these parties were done discriminating against Arabs, they would turn to persecuting Jews and other minority groups.
“People who are intolerant are intolerant, and racism is racism,” he said. Bronchtein was also critical of some of the Left European parties in their attempt to pander to the Muslim vote, just as the far Right tried to do the same with the Jewish vote.
Lastly, Bronchtein said he was concerned with what was happening in Israeli society, although he said he did not have a “miracle cure.”
“People have to find a way to live together,” he said.