The Albany Gazette - Macron urges 'reform' of Palestinian Authority to run Gaza without Hamas

France is among European nations to have backed a plan for Gaza to return to the control of the Ramallah-based authority after nearly two decades of Hamas rule if a ceasefire deal is reached to end the war with Israel.

Israel resumed its deadly air strikes in Gaza on March 18 after cutting off aid to the Palestinian coastal territory, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas.

Macron called his Palestinian counterpart Mahmud Abbas on Monday after last week announcing France could take the unprecedented step of recognising a Palestinian state in coming months, sparking ire from Israel.

"France is fully mobilised to obtain the return of all hostages, the return of a lasting ceasefire and immediate access for humanitarian aid into Gaza," Macron said on X after the phone call.

"It is essential to set a framework for the day after: disarm and sideline Hamas, define credible governance and reform the Palestinian Authority," he said.

"This should allow progress towards a two-state political solution, with a view to the peace conference in June, in the service of peace and security for all."

Macron has said France could recognise a Palestinian state during a United Nations conference in New York in June.

Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that Abbas and Macron had "emphasised the urgent need for a ceasefire, the acceleration of humanitarian aid delivery, the rejection of the displacement of the Palestinian people from their land".

France has thrown its support behind a plan put forward by Arab nations, including Jordan, to rebuild Gaza without evicting its 2.4 million Palestinian residents.

The Arab League-endorsed plan was put forward to counter a US proposal to send the war-ravaged territory's inhabitants elsewhere.

- 'Screw you' -

Hamas has governed the Gaza Strip since 2007, when it seized control from the Palestinian Authority after being blocked from exercising real power despite winning a parliamentary election the previous year.

Both France and the United States under Joe Biden have pressed for the Palestinian Authority, which has limited autonomy in parts of the West Bank, to root out corruption and bring in new faces in the hope it could take charge of Gaza.

The Ramallah-based administration, led by 89-year-old Abbas, has been hamstrung by Israel's decades-old occupation of the West Bank and the Palestinian president's own unpopularity.

Paris has long championed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which would see both a Palestinian and Israeli state live peacefully side by side.

But formal recognition of a Palestinian state would mark a major policy switch and risk antagonising Israel, which insists such moves by foreign states are premature.

Macron's remarks last week sparked a wave of criticism from right-wing groups in France and from Netanyahu and his son Yair Netanyahu.

"Screw you!" Yair Netanyahu wrote in English on X late on Saturday, while his father Benjamin Netanyahu himself dismissed Macron's remarks.

The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 251 hostages, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israeli's retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 50,900 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory whose figures the United Nations deems reliable.

(M.Scott--TAG)