Leïla Shahid, former general delegate of Palestine in France: “You cannot recognize a Palestinian State with conditions”

ByMuhammad

The former general delegate of Palestine in France, Leïla Shahid, praised Emmanuel Macron’s decision on RTL on Monday on Monday to recognize the state of Palestine, believing that it is “much more than a symbol”. “Of course, this is a symbol, but today President Macron confirms what the French presidents from Charles de Gaulle were trying to do without officially achieving it,” she said.

Leïla Shahid, who was general delegate then Palestine ambassador to Paris in 1993, recalls that “there is already a Palestinian embassy in Paris which works”. But, according to her, the scope of the announcement stems from the fact that the Head of State acts “in a very official way to the United Nations” and “entails with him ten countries”.

Asked about the condition set by Emmanuel Macron – the release of hostages before the opening of a French embassy in Palestine – the diplomat expressed her reserves: “Legally, you recognize or you do not recognize, but you cannot recognize with conditions. Because tomorrow English will say: I have another condition, and the Portuguese another. International law says: we recognize a state. “She added:” Of course, it is up to us to release (the hostages), and we want it more than you, because the whole war is justified by Mr. Netanyahu saying: it is to release the hostages. »»

For many, this recognition by France arrives after decades of silence and diplomatic calculations, even though the Palestinian population undergoes an offensive that many NGOs and international jurists qualify as genocide. It is therefore a late recognition, constrained by the extent of the massacres and the systematic destruction of Gaza. By finally naming the Palestinian state, Paris implicitly recognizes the existence of a people that we try to erase under bombs, and recalls that international law only makes sense if it protects those who are most vulnerable today. This gesture, if it marks an advance, also underlines the immense delay of the Western powers in the face of one of the most blatant human and political tragedies of our time.

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Muhammad

Muhammad is a visionary thinker and passionate writer who has been contributing to Understanding Islam for several years.