France hails new Palestinian cabinet and pledges support for 'viable' state

FRANCE YESTERDAY welcomed the formation of a new Palestinian cabinet and pledged Paris’s backing.

French government spokesman Eric Chevalier expressed, “France’s full confidence in president Mahmoud Abbas and prime minister Salam Fayyad for resuming peace negotiations with Israel without delay, complying with the commitments made under the road map and implementing the Palestinian reform and development plan with a view to the creation of an independent, sovereign, viable, democratic and modern Palestinian state existing in peace and security alongside Israel”.

Paris also declared it would “continue to support all efforts to secure . . . inter-Palestinian reconciliation. [It] reiterates its support for [Egyptian efforts to mediate between Fatah and Hamas] and willingness to work with a national unity government whose positions and actions would reflect the principles underlying the peace process.”

France’s declaration is seen as an indicator that the new cabinet also has the backing of the EU and the US. Mr Fayyad, the West’s preferred premier, resigned several weeks ago in the expectation that a unity government would be established. But when the Cairo talks stalled, Mr Abbas reappointed him. He wanted a new government in place before meeting US president Barack Obama on May 28th.

However, the new 24-member Palestinian Authority (PA) government sworn in on Tuesday was challenged not only by Hamas but also by factions normally aligned with Mr Abbas’s Fatah and by its parliamentary bloc, whose members refused to serve. The boycott led to the appointment of several ministers unknown to the public.

The dissenters argued that appointments had been made without consultation and the move would torpedo the talks aimed at reconciling Fatah, which administers West Bank Palestinians, and Hamas, which rules Gaza. Hamas responded by saying the formation of a new government had finished off the negotiations, although Mr Fayyad said it would work towards unity and dissolve once there is a power-sharing agreement.

Meanwhile, Mr Abbas’s aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said if Israel is prepared to agree to international terms for a deal, an agreement could be achieved within three to six months.

“During meetings with US special envoy George Mitchell, we made it clear that there must be Israeli recognition of the principle of two states for two peoples and a freezing of construction in the settlements.”

Palestinian officials also said the PA would relinquish its claim to sovereignty over the mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City if it came under Muslim sovereignty and the management of the Jeddah-based 57-member Organisation of the Islamic Conference. Israel claims the whole of Jerusalem as its exclusive, undivided capital and rejects Palestinian demands for sovereignty over the eastern sector of the city occupied by Israel in 1967.