Interviewed by franceinfo radio and TV network on July 24, President of the International Peace Forum Ofer Bronchtein—a onetime collaborator of Yitzhak Rabin, and special advisor to Emmanuel Macron, and who addressed the International Peace Coalition on May 2—commented following the French President’s announcement to recognize Palestinian Statehood.
Said Bronchtein: “It was about time. This is the best news to guarantee the dignity, independence, and freedom of the Palestinians. It is the best news to guarantee the security of Israel….
“The first president to speak of recognizing the Palestinian state was François Mitterrand in 1982. Since then, every French President has reiterated his will and commitment to Israel’s security and the creation of a Palestinian state. I am delighted that it is Emmanuel Macron who is doing so,” he added. “I believe he will go down in French history as the French President who finally recognized the Palestinians’ right to dignity, independence, and progress.”
Bronchtein praised the constructive attitude of the Palestinian Authority, while “Israeli settlers, every day, provoke the Palestinians with acts that are absolutely illegal and unacceptable. I think there is a certain laissez-faire attitude on the part of the Israeli authorities and this must stop,” he insisted.
Compared to the 1993 Oslo Accords, “we are now proposing a paradigm shift,” continued Ofer Bronchtein. “We recognize the Palestinian state and then we ask the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate what they believe is necessary: the territories, the border, and the capital of Jerusalem, which should be the capital of both countries,” he argues.
There is also “the problem of refugees, the economic relations between the two.” It is “by being equals that the Israelis will be able to guarantee both security and the Palestinians their dignity.”
It is “in Israel’s interest to see a responsible Palestinian state emerge alongside it. The next step that France will take is to recognize West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.”
