For his first intervention in the Security Council, Stéphane Sjörn defended a Palestinian state

In his first intervention before the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Stéphane Sjörn once again defended a two-state solution to end the war between Israel and Hamas. “We need a Palestinian state,” urged the new minister of foreign affairs.

France is “a friend of Israel because it is a friend of the Palestinian people” and in this regard “we must tell everyone the difficult things”, he declared during a ministerial meeting of the Council, which France presided over in January. .

Common capital for two states

“So I must say to Israel, who knows the friendship of the French people, that we need a Palestinian state, the violence against the Palestinian people, especially the extremist settlers, must stop and that international law is necessary for everyone.” he insisted.

“We know the parameters of the solution: two states, living together, in peace and security within safe and recognized borders, based on the 1967 lines, and both with Jerusalem as their capital”, he added, while the Israeli government discussed the “two-state solution”. refuses to.

“It is not up to Israel or anyone else how they will govern tomorrow, not for the Palestinians to decide, nor the extent of their sovereignty,” the minister stressed. “We must also think now about the future of Gaza. It is not up to Israel to decide the fate of the Palestinian population of Gaza. Gaza is Palestinian land and it depends on the Palestinian Authority, which we support, to be able to exercise its full authority there,” he said.

Paris defends “Israel’s right to live in peace”.

Addressing the Palestinian representatives at the same time, Stéphane Sejourne assured that France “will continue to fight terrorism with firmness and determination, there can be no ambiguity on Israel’s right to live in peace and security and to exercise its right to self-defense. In the face of terrorism. “

The war in the Gaza Strip began on October 7 with an unprecedented attack by Hamas on Israeli soil, which resulted in the death of more than 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to a count based on official Israeli data. The Jewish state has vowed to “destroy” Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007, and according to Hamas’ health ministry, 25,490 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women, children and teenagers.

20 minutes with AFP