{"id":448809,"date":"2025-09-24T21:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T21:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/448809\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T21:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T21:08:11","slug":"israeli-attempt-to-annex-west-bank-would-be-red-line-for-us-says-macron-palestinian-territories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/448809\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli attempt to annex West Bank would be \u2018red line\u2019 for US, says Macron | Palestinian territories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Any attempt by Israel to annex parts of the West Bank would be a red line for the US \u2013 and would represent the end of Arab-Israeli diplomatic normalisation, Emmanuel Macron<\/a> said on Wednesday, claiming that he had been given that assurance by Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, the document endorsed by more than 143 states that proposes to exclude Hamas from future rule in Gaza and the West Bank.<\/p>\n

Speaking on France<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Asked about Israeli plans to extend settlement in the West Bank<\/a> \u2013 including the E1 corridor that would involve the construction of 3,400 new homes \u2013 he said: \u201cOn that topic in very clear terms the Europeans and the Americans are on the same page.\u201d<\/p>\n

British officials have expressed concerns that Donald Trump could recognise Israeli sovereignty<\/a> over illegal settlements in the West Bank in retaliation for the UK, Australia, France and others deciding to recognise Palestine<\/a>. Such a move would be a serious blow to any two-state solution.<\/p>\n

But Macron said that any attempt to annex the West Bank \u201cwould be the end of the Abraham accords<\/a>, which was one of the success stories from Trump\u2019s first administration. The United Arab Emirates were very clear on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI think it is a red line for the USA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macron\u2019s comments provided the clearest insight yet on the behind-the-scenes diplomacy on plans for a \u201cday after\u201d the Gaza<\/a> conflict.<\/p>\n

The signing of the 2020 Abraham accords, which normalised relations between Israel<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

If Trump does indeed insist that annexation must not happen, Israel\u2019s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

Macron said he had appealed to Trump directly, telling him: \u2018You have a major role to play and you want to see peace in the world.\u2019 Photograph: Ludovic Marin\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if Netanyahu went ahead with annexation \u2013 with US endorsement or quiescence \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

Macron said the initial goal in his \u201cbrand new\u201d multi-stage plan was to secure a ceasefire and the release of all the hostages.<\/p>\n

He said he had appealed directly to Trump at their meeting, saying: \u201cYou have a major role to play and you want to see peace in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cWe have to convince the Americans to put pressure on Israel\u201d as the US is \u201cthe country with real leverage\u201d.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s 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: \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful \u2013 and I might say even confident \u2013 that in the coming days we\u2019ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Macron said that French recognition of the state of Palestine<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

But he suggested that some rightwing members of the Israeli cabinet were more intent on spoiling any political settlement. \u201cThe objective of some is not to fight Hamas<\/a> but rather to undermine the possibility of a path to peace,\u201d he said. He added: \u201cThere is no Hamas in the West Bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stressed that Netanyahu\u2019s strategy of total war was a failure since it only endangered the hostages and has failed to reduce the size of the Hamas military. \u201cThere are just as many Hamas fighters as before. Total war from a practical point of view is not working. This war is a failure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macron said the fate of hostages and Gaza\u2019s civilian population should not be \u201cleft in the hands of those for whom the release of hostages is not a priority\u201d. He added: \u201cNetanyahu\u2019s first priority is not the release of hostages \u2013 otherwise he would not have launched the latest offensive on Gaza City, nor would he have struck negotiators in Qatar<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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: \u201cObviously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if there was ever going to be a majority for sanctions in the European Union<\/a>, he said he was trying to change that, adding each country had its own history and sensitivity \u2013 a reference to Germany, which along with Italy has resisted sanctions.<\/p>\n

Arguing that Palestinians had to be offered a political perspective for their future, Macron said the core of his argument was that \u201cif you don\u2019t 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 \u2013 or even worse violence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Any attempt by Israel to annex parts of the West Bank would be a red line for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448810,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-448809","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115261322553941223","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448809\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}