'The time for peace is now:
The two-state solution is the only viable option'
Issued on: 11/06/2025
Amid protests urging a ceasefire and challenges to Israel’s blockade, the Paris Peace Forum is set to host the “Paris Call for the Two-State Solution, Peace and Regional Security” in the lead-up to the UN’s High-Level Conference in New York gathering Israeli, Palestinian, and global voices. Meanwhile, Israel’s Shas party threatens to collapse Netanyahu’s government by backing early elections amid a dispute over military service. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24’s Eve Irvine welcomes Gershon Baskin, Middle East Director of the International Communities Organisation. He highlights the fact that the 'majority of Israelis, Palestinians want peace, they just don't believe there are partners on the other side'.
Video by: Eve IRVINE
'The two-state solution is going to happen': Israel’s Olmert and ex-Palestinian FM Qudwa
Issued on: 11/06/2025 FRANCE24Play (15:35 min)From the show
Speaking together on FRANCE 24, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Qudwa defended their vision of a two-state solution despite the devastating war in Gaza. Olmert accused Israel of waging a war with "no legitimacy" since expanding the conflict on March 18, while Qudwa – the nephew of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat – called for international pressure.
Former Israeli prime minister Olmert condemned his successor Netanyahu's March 18 decision to end the ceasefire and expand the war in Gaza, calling it illegitimate. "A war which has no legitimacy at this point" is "in itself a crime", he declared, arguing that most Israelis oppose the conflict's expansion. He also accused Netanyahu of prioritising "personal interests" over national interests, claiming that the Israeli leader "seems to want to continue the war forever" to avoid accountability over the October 7, 2023 attacks.
'Coexistence means two states'
Both Olmert and Qudwa expressed hope in US President Donald Trump's potential to deliver peace, with the former Israeli premier making a direct appeal to the US president. "There is only one person in the world that Netanyahu is scared [of]," Olmert said, urging Trump to summon Netanyahu and tell him "enough is enough".
Qudwa, while calling Trump's ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee "another nut", emphasised the need for international coalition-building.
Watch more'We don't want a Palestinian state,' Israeli economy minister says
The two men dismissed the one-state solution, with Olmert calling it "a prescription for disaster". Despite the devastation in Gaza and ongoing settlement expansion in the West Bank, both remained optimistic.
"Coexistence means two states. [It's] simple," Qudwa concluded. Olmert predicted that their blueprint for peace would be signed "sooner than most people anticipate".
By: Marc Perelman
Sophian Aubin
Speaking together on FRANCE 24, former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert and former Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Qudwa defended their vision of a two-state solution despite the devastating war in Gaza. Olmert accused Israel of waging a war with "no legitimacy" since expanding the conflict on March 18, while Qudwa – the nephew of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat – called for international pressure.
Former Israeli prime minister Olmert condemned his successor Netanyahu's March 18 decision to end the ceasefire and expand the war in Gaza, calling it illegitimate. "A war which has no legitimacy at this point" is "in itself a crime", he declared, arguing that most Israelis oppose the conflict's expansion. He also accused Netanyahu of prioritising "personal interests" over national interests, claiming that the Israeli leader "seems to want to continue the war forever" to avoid accountability over the October 7, 2023 attacks.
'Coexistence means two states'
Both Olmert and Qudwa expressed hope in US President Donald Trump's potential to deliver peace, with the former Israeli premier making a direct appeal to the US president. "There is only one person in the world that Netanyahu is scared [of]," Olmert said, urging Trump to summon Netanyahu and tell him "enough is enough".
Qudwa, while calling Trump's ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee "another nut", emphasised the need for international coalition-building.
Watch more
The two men dismissed the one-state solution, with Olmert calling it "a prescription for disaster". Despite the devastation in Gaza and ongoing settlement expansion in the West Bank, both remained optimistic.
"Coexistence means two states. [It's] simple," Qudwa concluded. Olmert predicted that their blueprint for peace would be signed "sooner than most people anticipate".
Sophian Aubin
Macron Pushes For Recognition Of The State Of Palestine, But Not Too Hard
By EurActiv
By Laurent Geslin
(EurActiv) — After announcing that Paris would formally recognise Palestine as an independent state later this month at an international conference, the Élysée now seems to be backpedalling under pressure from Tel Aviv and Israel’s allies.
Just days before the International Conference on Palestine, organized by France and Saudi Arabia at the United Nations in New York from 17 to 20 June, relations between Paris and Tel Aviv remain dire. During a press conference on Monday, Emmanuel Macron emphasized that the blockade of Gaza by the Israeli army was a “disgrace.”
During a visit to Egypt in early April, the French president went to al-Arish, a port city in the Sinai near the Rafah terminal that serves as a hub for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. On the plane back to Paris, he mentioned for the first time the June deadline for France’s recognition of Palestine, following the lead of nearly 150 other countries worldwide.
On 19 May, the Élysée also condemned in a statement signed by Canada and the United Kingdom the “odious language recently used by members of the Israeli government and the threat of forced displacement of civilians.” The three countries threatened to take “concrete measures” if Israel did not lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid.
These initiatives have not gone down well in Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling the French president’s statements “unacceptable.” A few days ago, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs doubled down, denouncing “Macron’s crusade against the Jewish state.”
These exchanges come amid recent incidents on the ground. Last November, two French gendarmes were detained in the Church of Eleona, a site managed by France in Jerusalem. And on Sunday night, the Israeli navy seized the sailboat Madleen, which was attempting to break the blockade of Gaza, with six French nationals on board, including MEP Rima Hassan (The Left).
Recognition, really?
While Brussels announced on 20 May a review of the EU’s Association Agreement with Tel Aviv, the French diplomatic offensive is far from unanimous on the continent, with only 12 EU members recognising Palestine as an independent state. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul emphasised on 5 June that such a recognition of Palestine would send a “bad signal” during a press conference with his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar.
As the New York conference approaches, under pressure from the United States, French diplomats seem to be softening their stance.
Two Élysée emissaries were in Israel on 2 and 3 June to smooth relations with Netanyahu. “The recognition of a Palestinian state remains on the table, but not as a product of the conference. It will remain a bilateral issue between states,” they explained to the Israeli newspaper Ynet, suggesting that Paris might backtrack.
French arms to Israel
Meanwhile, France continues its military deliveries to Israel, unlike the blockade decreed by General de Gaulle during the Six-Day War in June 1967. According to Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu, Paris is sending “components” for the Iron Dome, the system that defends the country against missile, rocket, and drone attacks, as well as “items for re-export.”
Thus, 19 pallets containing 14 tons of parts for machine-gun cartridges manufactured by the French company Eurolinks were refused by dockworkers at the port of Marseille on 4 June to be loaded onto an Israeli cargo ship. According to a statement from the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), they did not want to “participate in the ongoing genocide.”
A similar shipment had already been sent to Israel in March 2024, but it was unclear whether it had been reexported, according to Disclose, a French-language investigative website which also looked into the June arms shipment.
In a report published on Tuesday, a dozen NGOs also denounced the delivery of an “uninterrupted flow” of arms to Israel since October 2023, including “bombs, grenades, torpedoes, mines, missiles, and other munitions of war.” Some French MPs and senators are expected to soon call for the lifting of defence secrecy and the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry committee on arms shipments to Israel, according to information obtained by Euractiv.
EurActiv
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