France says it obtained Palestinian reform pledge ahead of conference

France said on Tuesday it had obtained new commitments from the Palestinian Authority (PA) to carry out major reforms. The pledge came ahead of a conference next week at which Paris could become the most prominent Western power to back recognition of an independent Palestinian state, Reuters reported.

President Emmanuel Macron had received a letter from Mahmoud Abbas in which the Palestinian Authority president condemned the October 2023 Hamas attack against Israel, and called for all Israeli captives to be released, the Elysee said.

Abbas, 89, has headed the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority since the death of veteran leader Yasser Arafat in 2004.

The PA exercises limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but lost control of Gaza to its rivals Hamas since 2007. It has previously condemned Hamas’s attack on Israeli settlements and army bases in October 2023 and called for the militant group to be disarmed in a future settlement.

The letter to Macron, who is working on organising an international conference with Saudi Arabia to discuss recognition of Palestine, contains “unprecedented” pledges, Macron’s office said, without elaborating.

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“Hamas will no longer rule Gaza and must hand over its weapons and military capabilities to the Palestinian Security Forces, which will oversee their removal outside the Occupied Palestinian territory, with Arab and international support,” the French leader’s office quoted Abbas as having written in the letter.

Commenting on the letter, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that “Abbas has no legitimacy to speak about the resistance’s arms.”

He said the French government should be aware that the letter it received on the future of Gaza “only represents the opinion of the person who signed it,” in reference to Abbas.

“Any plan that targets resistance groups or works on overriding it won’t succeed,” he said.

Israel has said it will not accept any role for the PA in Gaza after the war and has denounced countries that consider recognising Palestinian independence, which it says would reward Hamas for its attacks.

French officials have said Macron is leaning towards recognising a Palestinian state ahead of the UN conference which France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting from 17-20 June.

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