by Michel Rose
PARIS (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron is visiting Israel on Tuesday at a delicate moment in the conflict with Hamas, eager to obtain a humanitarian truce and present “operational” proposals, even as the Israeli army preparing to carry out a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Beyond showing his solidarity with Israel, Emmanuel Macron intends to prevent any escalation of the conflict, obtain the release of the hostages, guarantee the security of Israel and work on a two-state solution, indicated advisors to the head of the State before his departure.
This trip to Tel Aviv comes almost a week after that of his American counterpart Joe Biden, who negotiated in parallel with Egypt the release of humanitarian aid via the Rafah border crossing point, the only axis connecting the strip of Gaza which is not controlled by Israel.
The leaders of Britain, Germany and Italy also visited Israel last week.
Emmanuel Macron told journalists that he would go to the Middle East only if he was convinced that such a visit would be “useful”.
“The President of the Republic is going there with proposals which must be as operational as possible,” said an Elysée advisor during a press briefing, refusing to give details on these proposals.
He added that Paris wanted to “give credence” to its commitment to Israel, to prevent it from being alone in its fight against terrorism.
Emmanuel Macron will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, centrist opposition leader Benny Gantz, who joined the national emergency unity government set up in response to the conflict, and Yair Lapid, another opposition leader.
Since the Hamas attack in Israeli towns which left 1,400 dead on October 7, the French president has also spoken with the Egyptian, Saudi, Iranian and Qatari leaders.
“FRANCE’S ‘SOFT POWER’ HAS BEEN ACHIEVED”
Emmanuel Macron’s ability to influence events in the region now appears limited by what analysts describe as a position espousing the line adopted by Israel, the United States and Great Britain, moving away from an approach which was traditionally more pro-Arab.
“France’s ‘soft power’ in the south of the Mediterranean has been considerably affected,” commented Karim Emile Bitar, foreign policy expert at the IRIS think tank, based in Beirut, Lebanon.
“We have the impression that nothing distinguishes France from other Western countries, which historically had not been the case and this is what shocked Arab public opinion,” he told Reuters.
According to him, the French government’s decision to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations after the October 7 attack, before the Council of State opposed such a systematic measure, is one of the reasons for which Emmanuel Macron has lost credit in the Arab world.
The idea of a biased policy on the part of the head of state is rejected by French representatives, who highlight that Emmanuel Macron has constantly reaffirmed the rights of the Palestinians and his position in favor of a two-way solution. States.
“It is an objective from which France has never deviated,” the Elysée advisor declared to journalists on Monday.
It is “very likely” that Emmanuel Macron will meet the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and also visit one or more Arab capitals in the Middle East, French representatives said.
The head of state must deal with tensions in France over the conflict in the Middle East and the murder of a teacher in Arras (Pas-de-Calais) which he described as an “Islamist terrorist” act. “. The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, considered that there was a link between the Arras attack and the situation in Gaza.
Emmanuel Macron must also take into account the hypothesis that several French nationals are detained by Hamas.
Thirty French nationals were killed in the Hamas attack and seven others have been missing since then, believed to be hostages. A French national appeared in a video released by Hamas.
Emmanuel Macron promised during a televised speech that France would not abandon any of its children in Gaza. He also told journalists he hoped that Qatar’s mediation could lead to the release of the hostages.
(Report by Michel Rose, with John Irish, written by Jean Terzian)
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