Any attempt by Israel to annex parts of the West Bank would be a red line for the US – and would represent the end of Arab-Israeli diplomatic normalisation, Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday, claiming that he had been given that assurance by Donald Trump.
Macron also revealed that he had presented the US leader with a three-page plan on the future of Palestine, based on the New York Declaration, the document endorsed by more than 143 states that proposes to exclude Hamas from future rule in Gaza and the West Bank.
Speaking on France 24, Macron said the aim of his meeting with Trump on Tuesday had been to get America, Europe and the Arab states on the same page.
Asked about Israeli plans to extend settlement in the West Bank – including the E1 corridor that would involve the construction of 3,400 new homes – he said: “On that topic in very clear terms the Europeans and the Americans are on the same page.”
British officials have expressed concerns that Donald Trump could recognise Israeli sovereignty over illegal settlements in the West Bank in retaliation for the UK, Australia, France and others deciding to recognise Palestine. Such a move would be a serious blow to any two-state solution.
But Macron said that any attempt to annex the West Bank “would be the end of the Abraham accords, which was one of the success stories from Trump’s first administration. The United Arab Emirates were very clear on it.”
He added: “I think it is a red line for the USA.”
Macron’s comments provided the clearest insight yet on the behind-the-scenes diplomacy on plans for a “day after” the Gaza conflict.
The signing of the 2020 Abraham accords, which normalised relations between Israel and a group of Arab states including the UAE, is prized by Trump as one of the crowning diplomatic achievements of his first term in office.
If Trump does indeed insist that annexation must not happen, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will be put in serious political difficulty, as parts of his extreme-right governmental coalition have demanded that Israel seize the West Bank either partly or completely.
On the other hand, if Netanyahu went ahead with annexation – with US endorsement or quiescence – the plan for a two-state solution in which a Palestinian state sits alongside Israel would be in serious jeopardy. Netanyahu is due to meet Trump at the White House on Monday and will address the UN general assembly on Friday.
Macron said the initial goal in his “brand new” multi-stage plan was to secure a ceasefire and the release of all the hostages.
He said he had appealed directly to Trump at their meeting, saying: “You have a major role to play and you want to see peace in the world.”
He said: “We have to convince the Americans to put pressure on Israel” as the US is “the country with real leverage”.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff also said the US president had presented regional Arab and Muslim leaders with a 21-point plan for peace in the Middle East at a meeting on Tuesday. Speaking at an event on the sidelines of the UN general assembly, he said: “We’re hopeful – and I might say even confident – that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough.”
Macron said that French recognition of the state of Palestine had been intended to open up a peace process, which he said was the best route to isolating Hamas. The goal was to demilitarise and break up the militant group, he said.
But he suggested that some rightwing members of the Israeli cabinet were more intent on spoiling any political settlement. “The objective of some is not to fight Hamas but rather to undermine the possibility of a path to peace,” he said. He added: “There is no Hamas in the West Bank.”
He stressed that Netanyahu’s strategy of total war was a failure since it only endangered the hostages and has failed to reduce the size of the Hamas military. “There are just as many Hamas fighters as before. Total war from a practical point of view is not working. This war is a failure.”
Macron said the fate of hostages and Gaza’s civilian population should not be “left in the hands of those for whom the release of hostages is not a priority”. He added: “Netanyahu’s first priority is not the release of hostages – otherwise he would not have launched the latest offensive on Gaza City, nor would he have struck negotiators in Qatar.”
He insisted that as part of the plan for the future governance of Gaza and the West Bank, Hamas would be removed and a Palestinian Authority with new commitments to reform would eventually take charge. He gave no timescale.
He warned if there was a failure to bring an end to the fighting in the coming days, Europe would have to consider what other steps it would take; asked if that meant sanctions, he replied: “Obviously.”
Asked if there was ever going to be a majority for sanctions in the European Union, he said he was trying to change that, adding each country had its own history and sensitivity – a reference to Germany, which along with Italy has resisted sanctions.
Arguing that Palestinians had to be offered a political perspective for their future, Macron said the core of his argument was that “if you don’t give a group of people a political way out for their own legitimate existence when the international community recognised that 78 years ago, you are going to lead them to a complete loss of hope – or even worse violence.”
