French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that France will assist the Palestinian Authority (PA) in drafting a constitution for a future Palestinian state.
The statement, quoted by Reuters, followed a meeting in Paris with PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Macron said a joint committee would be established to handle “all legal aspects: constitutional, institutional and organizational.”
He added, “It will contribute to the work of developing a new constitution, a draft of which President Abbas has presented to me, and will aim to finalise all the conditions for such a State of Palestine.”
France also pledged €100 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza for 2025.
Abbas said, “We are committed to a culture of dialogue and peace, and we want a democratic, unarmed state committed to the rule of law, transparency, justice, pluralism and the rotation of power.”
He also expressed appreciation for efforts by US President Donald Trump and international partners to end the fighting in Gaza and promote a lasting peace, including the disarming of terror groups such as Hamas.
France in September led an initiative in which it, along with Britain, Canada, and Australia, formally recognized a Palestinian state.
The move was denounced by both Israel and the US, which stated that unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state is a reward for the Hamas terrorist organization.
The PA has long urged countries to recognize “Palestine” as a means of bypassing direct talks with Israel.
While several countries have recognized “Palestine” in recent years, those moves were symbolic ones that have little, if any, actual diplomatic effect.