French lead candidates show deep splits over recognition of Palestinian state

Top French candidates for June’s European elections showed just how split they were over the recognition of a Palestinian state in a TV debate on Monday night (27 May), with the left-of-centre being clearly in favour and the rest saying the time was not right yet.

Left-leaning contenders, from the Communists to the social democrats, were clearly in favour of recognising an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel – the so-called ‘two-state solution’.

Centrist, right-leaning, and far-right contenders, on the other hand, all agreed it is too soon to move forward on this issue, which they said would only benefit the Gaza-based terrorist Hamas organisation.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Friday (24 May) that Israel should “immediately halt its military offensive” in Rafah, at the border with Egypt, in the Southern Gaza Strip, and allow for the “unhindered” provision of humanitarian assistance.

Israel has rejected the ruling and continued its air offensive, bombing a part of the city designated for displaced Palestinians on Sunday (26 May), killing at least 45 people, including women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.

EU mulls Rafah mission, next diplomatic steps after talks with Arab counterparts

The EU is ready to reactivate its border mission around the besieged southern Gaza city of Rafah. The EU’s foreign ministers on Monday (27 May) agreed on this as part of stepping up their diplomatic and humanitarian efforts in the region.

“Who will rejoice? Hamas”

Images of the aftermath of the airstrikes are “unbearable”, said Valérie Hayer, lead candidate for the pro-Macron list, – but it is not yet time to recognise a new Palestinian State.

“Conditions aren’t there yet,” she said in the debate. “If we recognise a Palestinian state, who will rejoice? Hamas”.

Spain, Ireland, and Norway are set to officially recognise a Palestinian state on Tuesday (28 May). 142 countries have already far taken this step, including close to all non-European countries and some eastern and northern EU   member states, such as Sweden, Poland and Romania.

Hayer’s position – which differs from fellow party member and candidate Bernard Guetta, who said earlier on Monday he would support the immediate recognition of a new Palestinian state – is perfectly aligned with that of France’s President Emmanuel Macron, but also with her right and far-right counterparts.

François-Xavier Bellamy, lead candidate for the right-wing Les Républicains, said that “recognising a Palestinian state would vindicate those who unleashed 7 October atrocities [the Hamas attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,200] and created the hell the Palestinian population is living in today”.

He went on to blame the far-left La France insoumise (LFI) – who have put the defence of Gaza at the very heart of their political campaign – for using the conflict for “electoral clientelism”. The two-state solution should be an end-point, Bellamy said, but now is not the time.

The very same line of argument was held by far-right Rassemblement national contender Jordan Bardella, who blamed left-leaning forces for allegedly failing to condemn the 7 October attacks.

Meanwhile, extreme-right’s Marion Maréchal, whose party leader Eric Zemmour, was several times found guilty of enticing racial hatred, said that support for a Palestinian state only “fans the flames of anti-Semitism”.

Which European states stand with Palestine?

As Israel widens the scope of its invasion of Gaza to the southern city of Rafah, four EU countries have today decided to officially recognise the state of Palestine, in line with the long-touted proposal for a ‘two-state solution’ to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Follow suit with Spain

The line of thinking could not be more different to left-leaning forces’ take on the matter.

“A massacre is underway [in Gaza], a humanitarian camp has been targeted by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government,” LFI’s Manon Aubry said. There is no looking away anymore, she said.

Alongside other left-wing counterparts, she called for sanctions against the Israeli government, an embargo on the shipping of weaponry and artillery, an end to the 2000 EU-Israel Association Agreement, and the immediate recognition of a Palestinian state.

The two-state solution has been “put off” for too long, socialist Raphaël Glucksmann said. Often criticised by more radical left-wing movements for being too coy on the Israel-Palestine conflict in recent months, Glucksmann made clear on Monday “the time had come” to follow suit with Spain, Ireland and Norway in recognising a Palestinian state.

The same was heard from Communists’ lead candidate Léon Deffontaines and the Green’s Marie Toussaint.

All left-leaning candidates took particular aim at Hayer, blaming the president’s ruling majority of lacking political willingness to take a step forward on the recognition issue. “I hoped France would have moved its position,” Glucksmann said on Monday.

In a press statement last week, the French foreign ministry confirmed “conditions were not there for [the recognition of a Palestinian state] to have a real impact on the [peace] process”.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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