Macron Hosts Abbas & Blames Israel For Everything

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted Mahmoud Abbas, the man who holds the title of President of the Palestinian Authority although his term expired 13 years ago. 

Despite Abbas' lack of legitimacy never mind the authoritarian nature of the Palestinian Authority, Macron reserved his anger solely for Israel in calling for renewed peace talks:

We all know that a new spiral of violence can start at any moment. To avert this threat that is present daily and undermines the lives of both Palestinians and Israelis, we must act. We must act. We must address the deep political causes of a situation that has been deadlocked for too long.

Short-term, as we know, this means first putting an end to unilateral measures on the ground. I am thinking particularly of the evictions of Palestinian families, of the demolitions, of the policy of colonization that is contrary to international law and that makes the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel more remote.

By colonization, Macron is referring to settlements. But this is little more than a red herring. There hasn't been a Jewish resident of Gaza since 2005. Has this Israel any goodwill by the Palestinians? The dissolution of settlements in the West Bank will not yield different results. The BDS movement views all of Israel and seeks the return of all Arab lands. The Palestinians are not now and never have been amenable to compromise when it comes to co-existing with Israel. And yet Israel alone is expected to roll over and play dead.

Absent in Macron's statement was any condemnation of Palestinian violence against Jews, a violence encouraged by Abbas' administration itself through its textbooks which encourage young Palestinians to kill Jews. As such I don't see how Macron expects Israel to take him with any degree of seriousness. Even if Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid were so inclined, he heads a caretaker government and Macron is well aware of it. Macron is grandstanding. After all, this is the same Macron who asked Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to surrender land to Russia to help Vladimir Putin save face. 

Although President Biden favors a two state solution, he is far more realistic about the situation on the ground noting this was "currently unattainable" in his joint press conference with Abbas during his Middle East visit last week. No doubt Macron disagrees with that assessment, but I'd like to see him explain why he thinks Biden is wrong. 

I write all this with the knowledge that Macron is infinitely better than Marine Le Pen. Yet this doesn't mean that Macron won't say and do foolish things. But when Macron says and does foolish things it increases the likelihood that Madame Le Pen will get her chance to call the Elysee Palace home come 2027.