Macron and Abbas announce panel to draft new Palestine constitution after Paris talks

President Emmanuel Macron has said France will form a “joint panel” with the Palestinian Authority to draw up a new constitution for Palestine.

Macron made the remarks after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris.

"We decided together to establish a joint committee for the consolidation of the state of Palestine," Macron said, adding that it would "contribute to drawing up a new constitution, a draft of which president Abbas presented to me".

Abbas said he agreed "to the swift establishment of the constitutional committee".

Reforming the governing body is essential for a "democratic and sovereign Palestinian state, living in peace and security alongside Israel", the president’s office said prior to the talks.

The meeting comes a month into a fragile US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas, following two years of devastating war in Gaza triggered by the militant group's incursion into southern Israel in 2023.

It also comes just weeks after France joined a raft of other, mostly western European, countries in recognising Palestinian statehood.

Abbas has headed the Palestinian Authority for 20 years, a body which has limited control over parts of the occupied West Bank.

The authority is being considered to take over the governance of Gaza as part of the ceasefire deal.

The two leaders also discussed Israeli plans for full annexation of the West Bank, which Macron called a "red line" for Paris.

"Plans for partial or total annexation, whether legal or de facto, constitute a red line to which we will respond strongly with our European partners," Macron said.

"The violence of the settlers and the acceleration of settlement projects are reaching new heights, threatening the stability of the West Bank and constitute violations of international law."

Brokered by US President Donald Trump, the ceasefire, which came into effect on 10 October, has been tested by Israeli air strikes and claims of Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers.

Trump said last week he expected an International Stabilisation Force tasked with monitoring the ceasefire to be on the ground in Gaza "very soon."

Abbas 'manipulating France'

The visit sparked anger in Israel with the country's embassy in Paris accusing Abbas of "manipulating France" in a post on X.

The post slammed Abbas as a "Holocaust denier" whose popularity rating among Palestinians is "less than 15%."

The statement also claims that the Palestinian Authority uses part of the funds allocated by France and other European countries to "finance Abbas' lavish lifestyle (...) and pay terrorists on a 'Pay for Slay' basis."