Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, has called for Hamas to “hand over its weapons,” immediately free all hostages and cease ruling Gaza, the French presidency said on Tuesday after receiving a letter from him.
The letter was addressed to President Emmanuel Macron of France and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who will jointly chair a U.N. conference in New York next week to explore the creation of a Palestinian state. Mr. Macron has set a number of conditions for the possible French recognition of such a state at that meeting, including the disarmament of Hamas.
“Hamas will no longer rule Gaza and must hand over its weapons and military capabilities to the Palestinian security forces,” Mr. Abbas said in the letter, according to a statement from the Élysée Palace. He added that the Palestinian forces would oversee the removal of Hamas with Arab and international support, an undertaking that is certain to provoke skepticism in Israel, and probably also in Washington.
“Hamas must immediately release all hostages and captives,” the letter said, reiterating a demand that Mr. Abbas has made before.
A bitter feud has divided Mr. Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, and Hamas in Gaza for many years. The rival factions in the two Palestinian territories have defied several attempts at reconciliation, something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has seized on to dismiss a two-state solution.
Mr. Abbas condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people in some of the strongest terms that he has used, calling it “unacceptable and reprehensible.”
He equivocated in his first statement a few days after the attack, which also involved the abduction of about 250 hostages. He said then that he rejected “killing civilians or abusing them on both sides.” But he has sharpened his tone recently.
Israel responded to the attack with a devastating war that has killed almost 56,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local authorities, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians. The toll and imposition of a blockade, now partially lifted, in the territory have provoked growing international outrage, including among European states like France and Britain little inclined to sharp criticism of Israel in the past.
Responding to another condition Mr. Macron has set for recognition of a Palestinian state, Mr. Abbas committed to reform the Palestinian Authority, which is notoriously corrupt and ineffective. He also affirmed his intention to hold presidential and general elections within a year, under international auspices.
Mr. Abbas, 89, has made such commitments before without fulfilling them. He has cited various reasons, including difficulties with voting in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed. No Palestinian presidential election has been held for three decades.
Israel is fiercely opposed to French recognition of a Palestinian state and has been dismissive of the conference next week in New York.. Like the United States, it has not indicated whether it will attend.
Tensions between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Macron have risen sharply in recent weeks, with Israel accusing Mr. Macron of leading “a crusade against the Jewish state.”
While other European states, including Spain and Ireland, have recognized a Palestinian state, the heft of France is particular because it is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, is the only nuclear power in the European Union and is home to the largest Jewish community in western Europe.
In 2012, France voted in favor of granting Palestinians the status of nonmember observer state at the United Nations, but it has resisted full recognition.
Responding to the letter, the French presidency said that it welcomed “concrete and unprecedented commitments, demonstrating a real willingness to move toward the implementation of a two-state solution.”
Discussion of a two-state outcome, dormant for several years before the Hamas attack, has undergone a rebirth with Gaza in ruin, the growing Israeli presence in the West Bank nearing half a million settlers, and mistrust between Israeli and Palestinians particularly acute.
Mr. Macron, who is near paralyzed on the domestic front because of a deadlocked Parliament, has made the pursuit of an Israeli-Palestinian peace a core objective.
Mr. Abbas said he had no intention of forming a “militarized” state and was ready to accept the deployment of “Arab and international forces as part of a mission of stabilization and protection, under a mandate from the United Nations Security Council.” He also said that he was prepared to conclude a peace agreement within a clear timeline that “ends the Israeli occupation and resolves all outstanding and final status issues.”
Israel, under a right-wing government, has been hostile to the idea of the Palestinian Authority taking control of Gaza but has not offered any alternative.
France has been pointed in trying to distinguish its diplomacy from previous efforts by Washington.
It is unclear what Mr. Macron will decide on recognition of a Palestinian state. He is being lobbied by advisers on both sides, with supporters of recognition arguing it is the only way forward, and opponents saying it would reward terrorism.
Roger Cohen is the Paris Bureau chief for The Times, covering France and beyond. He has reported on wars in Lebanon, Bosnia and Ukraine, and between Israel and Gaza, in more than four decades as a journalist. At The Times, he has been a correspondent, foreign editor and columnist.
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