In his first intervention on Tuesday before the UN Security Council, Stéphane Séjourné once again defended a two-state solution to end the war between Israel and Hamas. “We need a Palestinian state,” pleaded the new foreign minister.
France “is a friend of Israel, as it is a friend of the Palestinian people,” and in this context “we must tell everyone the difficult things,” he said during a ministerial meeting of the Council that he chairs and of which France holds the presidency in January took over.
The same capital for two states
“That is why I must tell Israel, knowing the friendship of the French people, that we need a Palestinian state, that violence against the Palestinian people, especially extremist settlers, must stop and that international law is essential for everyone.” he insisted.
“We know the parameters of the solution: two states living side by side in peace and security within secure and recognized borders based on the 1967 lines and both having Jerusalem as their capital,” he added. The Israeli government refuses to over to discuss a “two-state solution”.
“It is not up to Israel or anyone else to decide for the Palestinians how they will be governed tomorrow, nor the extent of their sovereignty,” the minister stressed. “We now also have to think about the future of Gaza. It is not up to Israel to decide the fate of the Palestinian population in Gaza. Gaza is Palestinian land and it is up to the Palestinian Authority, which we support, to be able to exercise its full authority there,” he said.
Paris defends “Israel’s right to live in peace”
At the same time, Stéphane Séjourné addressed Palestinian representatives and assured that France would continue to “fight terrorism with determination and determination, that there can be no doubt about Israel's right to live in peace and security and to exercise its right to self-defense.” of terrorism.”
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which killed more than 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to a count based on official Israeli data. The Jewish state has vowed to “destroy” Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007, and launched a massive military operation that killed 25,490 Palestinians, the vast majority women, children and teenagers, according to the Health Ministry. Hamas.