Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris seeking French support to offset US President Donald Trump’s policy positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Speaking to reporters after a private meeting with Macron at the Elysée presidential palace, Abbas said he had conveyed the Palestinian position on the long stalled Middle East peace process, which, he said, Macron would pass on to Trump.
“France is interested in attempting to reach an agreement, we are in touch with all the parties. I have submitted to President Macron everything that clarifies our point of view. He will be contacting President Trump to convey our messages to him,” said Abbas.
The Paris meeting follows a series of diplomatic blows from the Trump administration aimed at the Palestinian cause. The opening of the US Embassy in the disputed city of Jerusalem in May was followed by a US funding cut to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees(UNRWA) and the shutting down of the PLO mission in Washington.
