Macron and Abbas announce panel to draft new Palestinian constitution after Paris talks

2025-11-11 20:51:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Macron and Abbas announce panel to draft new Palestinian constitution after

President Emmanuel Macron has said that France will form a "joint panel" with the Palestinian Authority to draft a new constitution for Palestine.

Macron made the comments after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris.

"We decided together to create a joint committee for the consolidation of the state of Palestine," Macron said, adding that this would "contribute to the drafting of a new constitution, a draft of which was presented to me by President Abbas."

Abbas said he agreed "to the rapid establishment of the constitutional committee."

Reforming the governing body is essential for a "democratic and sovereign Palestinian state, living in peace and security alongside Israel," the president's office said ahead of the talks.

The meeting comes a month after a fragile US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, following two years of devastating war in Gaza sparked by the militant group's invasion of southern Israel in 2023.

This also comes just weeks after France joined a group of other, mostly Western European, countries in recognizing Palestinian statehood.

Abbas has headed the Palestinian Authority for 20 years, a body that has limited control over parts of the occupied West Bank.

The authority is being considered to take over the governance of Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement.

The two leaders also discussed Israeli plans for the full annexation of the West Bank, which Macron called a "red line" for Paris.

"Plans for partial or full annexation, whether legal or de facto, constitute a red line to which we will respond strongly with our European partners," Macron said.

"Settler violence and the acceleration of settlement projects are reaching new levels, threatening the stability of the West Bank and constituting violations of international law."

Brokered by US President Donald Trump, the ceasefire, which came into effect on October 10, has been tested by Israeli airstrikes and allegations of Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers.

Trump said last week that he expected an International Stabilization Force, tasked with monitoring the ceasefire, to be on the ground in Gaza "very soon."/ CNA