Macron Conditions Release of Hostages in Gaza for Opening Embassy in Palestine

SadaNews - French President Emmanuel Macron announced in an interview with CBS on Sunday that his country conditions the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza before establishing an embassy in Palestine, on the eve of Paris recognizing the state of Palestine.

Macron stated in English during the interview conducted on Thursday that the release of hostages is "a clear condition before we establish an embassy."

France has a general consulate in Jerusalem that also represents it to the Palestinian Authority. The French embassy in Israel is located in Tel Aviv.

Paris is preparing, along with ten other countries, to officially recognize the state of Palestine during a summit on Monday at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The host of the program "Face the Nation" asked Macron if he was making the release of the hostages a condition for this recognition, to which he replied, "It will be a clear condition for us before we establish, for example, an embassy in Palestine."

He added that "this condition is the first among a series of prerequisites that we will defend within the framework of the peace process. However, we will announce the recognition of the Palestinian state on the 22nd (September, Monday)."

Before this summit, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia announced on Sunday their official recognition of the state of Palestine.

While seeking to "isolate" Hamas, according to his words, the French president criticized the Israeli military operations in Gaza.

He noted in this context that "what is happening is that there are a large number of civilian casualties, and the plan aims to displace people. I think this is a grave mistake."

He stated that the plan to displace all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip before its reconstruction is "madness," adding: "We cannot, whether implicitly or explicitly, tolerate such a project."

Moreover, Macron condemned the "mistake" of the American ambassador in France, Charles Kushner, the father of Donald Trump's son-in-law, after he expressed in August his "grave concern regarding the rise of anti-Semitism in France, and the government's inadequacy in addressing it."

He said, "It is a mistake and an unacceptable position from someone who is supposed to be a diplomat."