00:00In fact, it's a pretty busy day for the French President Emmanuel Macron
00:03because a little later on he'll move on from those ceremonies
00:07to receive the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas,
00:11here in Paris to discuss what's been phrased as the full implementation
00:15of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, a statement from the French Presidency
00:19referring to Mahmoud Abbas as President of the State of Palestine, France,
00:23having officially recognised, of course, the Palestinian state
00:25at the UN General Assembly in September.
00:28But let's discuss all the latest then.
00:29Rochelle Ferguson-Bahahi from our International Affairs desk is joining us here on set.
00:35Rochelle, what can we expect then in terms of talking points for this meeting?
00:39Well, as you say, this is seen for the French Presidency as part of the ongoing process
00:43of France's recognition of a Palestinian state.
00:47And also another key issue is coordinating French and Palestinian leadership positions,
00:53if you will, to make sure that they're on the same political line.
00:56You made that comment there about this kind of shift, now referring to Mahmoud Abbas
01:01as the President of the State of Palestine, of course, no longer just the President of
01:05the Palestinian Authority, political shift there, which is important.
01:08In terms of what will be outlined today in that bilateral meeting between Macron and Abbas,
01:14it's going to be looking at security, governance and the reconstruction of Gaza.
01:19Now, that's something that's going to be coordinated in line with both Arab and international partners.
01:23That, of course, as we know, is going to be a colossal task.
01:27And there have been several meetings held about how to get that reconstruction underway.
01:30You'll remember, Stuart, that just last week, the American President Donald Trump spoke about
01:34an international force, as he called it, being deployed very soon to Gaza.
01:40That's following on from a UN draft resolution.
01:45Macron will also raise this particularly pressing issue of humanitarian aid.
01:49Now, the World Food Programme has spoken just this week about the fact that the required
01:55food aid is still not reaching the Gaza Strip.
01:58The situation remains dire.
02:00Palestinian relief agencies on the ground say just a quarter of what was agreed during the
02:04ceasefire is reaching there.
02:06So Emmanuel Macron will outline that once again.
02:08And one can imagine trying to find solutions to that.
02:12A third and perhaps, you know, a very interesting part of the meeting today is going to be reforming
02:17the Palestinian Authority that Macron has said, Paris has said several times, is essential
02:22if there's going to be a sovereign, a democratic Palestinian state.
02:28What does that look like, reforming it?
02:30Well, they've outlined good governance, financial accountability, free and fair elections.
02:35Just a reminder that for the last 15 years, there haven't been free and fair elections.
02:39There have been several claims of corruption within the Palestinian Authority.
02:44There's also the key question, Stuart, of the leader, Mahmoud Abbas himself.
02:48He's 90 years old.
02:50There's no obvious leader.
02:52He's overstayed term limits.
02:55He's unpopular with some Palestinians who feel that, you know, he hasn't done enough to
02:59line up unity between Gaza and the West Bank.
03:03So a lot of criticism Abbas has faced over in recent years.
03:07And those will be some of the topics discussed today at that meeting.
03:10And of course, for the Palestinian Authority, I mean, they're really hoping to play a really
03:14key role, aren't they, in the reconstruction of Gaza?
03:17I mean, how possible is that and how might the meeting address that?
03:21Well, you're absolutely right, Stuart.
03:22The Palestinian Authority says they are the logical partner to move forward with this reconstruction
03:27of Gaza.
03:28They've been key in drawing up this plan with Saudi Arabia, with France, a plan to reconstruct
03:34the Gaza Strip.
03:35The Palestinian Authority has also nominated 5,500 police that they've now sent to Cairo,
03:41where training is going to be underway.
03:44So they say, look, we've set the ball rolling as far as, you know, how many people we can
03:48deploy on the ground.
03:49The Palestinian Authority has also recently reminded people that once they were ousted by Hamas
03:56in 2007, they've remained nonetheless involved in the Gaza Strip.
04:00They've been paying thousands of salaries of workers within the Gaza Strip.
04:05They've kept essential services like electricity, like water, and of course, education going.
04:11So they say, you know, rather than bringing in an external force who's going to come in
04:14and monitor, perhaps from afar, we have ground roots within Gaza.
04:18We understand how we can govern it.
04:21Important to say, Stuart, that ultimately Trump's ceasefire just makes a very vague comment about
04:26the Palestinian Authority.
04:28Trump would prefer an internationally supervised technocratic Palestinian committee rather than
04:33the Palestinian Authority.
04:36So there's lots to discuss there today about how they can play a role in this reconstruction.
04:42Funnily, I mean, it's interesting, isn't it, the date of this bilateral meeting is significant,
04:46isn't it?
04:47Just really briefly, yes.
04:48This date of the meeting between Abbas and Macron comes exactly 21 years after the death
04:54of Yasser Arafat.
04:55Yasser Arafat, of course, the very first president of the Palestinian Authority.
04:59He held that role between 2000 and, sorry, 1994-2004.
05:03He died not far from here in Clannar 21 years ago.
05:07Macron today hosting Arafat's successor.
05:11Abbas may be discredited.
05:12He may be unpopular for some Palestinians, but he remains a key, a key figure, one might
05:17say, within French diplomacy.
05:19Rochelle, thanks very much.
05:19Rochelle Ferguson-Brigiahi joining us from International Affairs List.
05:22Thanks.
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