عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

France Hints at Changing Stance Over Two-State Solution In Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

People hold a Palestinian flag during a protest against the normalization (Reuters)
People hold a Palestinian flag during a protest against the normalization (Reuters)
TT
TT

France Hints at Changing Stance Over Two-State Solution In Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

People hold a Palestinian flag during a protest against the normalization (Reuters)
People hold a Palestinian flag during a protest against the normalization (Reuters)

The Palestinian leadership will discuss with French officials the recent reports claiming Paris has changed its position on the two-state solution, according to a top Palestinian source.

The source explained that if France has another solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, then it must present it and show prove how it could be implemented.

He stressed that Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the leadership still insist on a two-state solution, with Palestine as an independent state with the 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its capital.

The source stressed that it is not possible to establish a single state because it requires granting Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem equal rights with Israelis, which Tel Aviv won’t accept or allow.

This also means that Palestinians will have the same rights as Israeli citizenship holders, including candidacy and voting in any elections.

Recent reports claimed that the French ambassador to Israel, Eric Danon, said that Paris is working to change its position on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Speaking during a session with a research center promoting strategic relations between Europe and Israel, Danon said that France will not negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians.

He indicated that it is a bilateral issue and France wants to take into account the new situation and return to the negotiations.

The envoy indicated that France prefers a two-state solution, but that doesn’t mean they can’t accept something else, adding that his country will accept any solution agreed upon by the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The French ambassador added that six months ago, no one could have imagined Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain would sign a peace agreement.

He said the Middle East has completely changed because of the United States, Iran, and Turkey, adding that Israel has become a new regional power.

The Palestinians must take into account their weak position on the international and Arab arenas, stressed Danon.

Diplomatic sources in Paris revealed that France does not rule out the possibility of a different solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, according to the Maariv newspaper.

The diplomats explained that the French diplomacy is having difficulty backing the two-state solution because it has become unrealistic.

They told Maariv that the ambassador was clear in saying that if Israelis and Palestinians reached a solution, France will not reject it, stressing the importance of resuming negotiations as soon as possible. They warned that Palestinians could lose everything now.

The idea of the one-state has been discussed before among Palestinian and US officials, considering the establishment of two states is far-fetched and impossible. However, the Authority has always rejected this idea.

The Palestinian leadership continues to adhere to internationally sponsored negotiations leading to an independent Palestinian state, despite the dramatic international and regional developments regarding the peace process and the ties with Israel.

However, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said that the US-Israeli pressure on the Palestinians will cease after the US elections.

Shtayyeh criticized “the joint US-Israeli pressure in favor of the re-election of US President Donald Trump,"

He called upon “some Arab brethren to learn from history,” indicating that Tel Aviv does not respect the promises made, urging them not to be deceived by Israel.

He pointed out that Palestine is “still living in harsh circumstances, including the financial siege and pressures.” However, he also expressed his confidence that the Palestinians will survive the siege and achieve national unity.

Most Viewed

 
 
Arab World

Iran War Is Latest Blow to Somalia’s Malnourished Children

Fatima Mohamed feed Iqlas Omar Abdi, 1, with nutritious supplementary biscuit at the Daynile hospital as shortages of lifesaving therapeutic foods caused by shipping disruptions due to the Iran war have forced clinics treating severely malnourished children to turn away patients and ration supplies in drought-hit Somalia, in Daynile district of Mogadishu, Somalia April 20, 2026. (Reuters)
Fatima Mohamed feed Iqlas Omar Abdi, 1, with nutritious supplementary biscuit at the Daynile hospital as shortages of lifesaving therapeutic foods caused by shipping disruptions due to the Iran war have forced clinics treating severely malnourished children to turn away patients and ration supplies in drought-hit Somalia, in Daynile district of Mogadishu, Somalia April 20, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Iran War Is Latest Blow to Somalia’s Malnourished Children

Fatima Mohamed feed Iqlas Omar Abdi, 1, with nutritious supplementary biscuit at the Daynile hospital as shortages of lifesaving therapeutic foods caused by shipping disruptions due to the Iran war have forced clinics treating severely malnourished children to turn away patients and ration supplies in drought-hit Somalia, in Daynile district of Mogadishu, Somalia April 20, 2026. (Reuters)
Fatima Mohamed feed Iqlas Omar Abdi, 1, with nutritious supplementary biscuit at the Daynile hospital as shortages of lifesaving therapeutic foods caused by shipping disruptions due to the Iran war have forced clinics treating severely malnourished children to turn away patients and ration supplies in drought-hit Somalia, in Daynile district of Mogadishu, Somalia April 20, 2026. (Reuters)

For Somalia's malnourished children, already suffering the twin catastrophes of looming famine and radical cuts in foreign aid, the US-Israeli war on Iran means more than soaring petrol pump prices; it is a matter of life and death.

Shortages of lifesaving therapeutic foods exacerbated by shipping disruptions are forcing clinics to turn away severely malnourished children and ration supplies, Reuters reporting shows.

Almost half a million children under 5 suffer from "severe acute malnutrition" or "wasting", the most life-threatening form of hunger, and the delays are worsening the effect of the aid reductions.

SOMALIA'S CHILDREN RELY ON EVER-SHRINKING FOOD AID

Health workers in Baidoa and Mogadishu say they have had to stretch out meagre stocks of specialized milk and nutrient-dense peanut-based paste vital to saving these children.

"Since the needs are large and we don't have a lot of supplies, we have had to keep reducing the amount we give children," nurse Hassan Yahye Kheyre said.

The 225 cartons of peanut paste remaining at his clinic, which treats more than 1,200 children, will probably be exhausted within two weeks, according to the International Rescue Committee, which supplies the facility.

"If ‌treatment is on-and-off, the ‌children will become very weak, physically and mentally. And it may not be possible to reverse it," ‌Kheyre ⁠added.

The IRC is ⁠one of three aid groups that said transport delays and rising costs linked to the war in Iran were making an already complicated situation worse.

At the clinic in the southwestern city of Baidoa, run by IRC's local partner READO, mother-of-nine Muumino Adan Aamin has been trying to get peanut paste for Ruweido, her 11-month-old daughter.

Ruweido is on a regimen of three sachets a day, but Aamin has been turned away twice because the clinic had run out each time.

Aamin nearly lost her daughter Anisa to hunger when a previous drought pushed Somalia to the brink of famine in 2017. "Just bone and skin," the toddler only survived because of peanut paste, Aamin said.

Nine years on, a new drought has pushed 6.5 million people, or one in three Somalis, ⁠into acute hunger, and aid groups are desperately trying to plug gaps.

An IRC order for peanut ‌paste that would have fed over 1,000 children got stuck two months ago in the ‌Indian port of Mundra, now congested with diverted cargoes unable to dock in the Gulf, said Shukri Abdulkadir, IRC's Somalia coordinator.

After being told that the peanut ‌paste, made in India, would take at least 30 more days to arrive, IRC cancelled the order.

It placed an emergency order for ‌400 cartons from Nairobi and is moving supplies in Mogadishu to Baidoa while awaiting them.

But the increase in freight and manufacturing costs has pushed the price of a single carton to $200 from $55, according to CARE International, whose latest order now buys enough for only 83 children rather than 300.

LIFE-SAVING FOOD AID TAKES LONGER AND COSTS MORE

In 2024, deliveries of therapeutic milk and ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) from Europe to Somalia typically took 30–35 days, increasing to 40–45 days in 2025 as vessels diverted around ‌Africa owing to security threats in the Red Sea.

Since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and Iran closed the entrance to the Gulf, a lack of ships ⁠has pushed that out to 55–65 days, ⁠said Mohamed Omar, head of Health and Nutrition at Action Against Hunger (ACF) in Mogadishu.

Meanwhile in Somalia, the IPC global hunger monitor says more than 2 million people are now in the "Emergency" phase, one level before famine.

Admissions of severely malnourished children in January-March to health centers supported by ACF were up 35% from last year.

Staff at Daynile General Hospital, which is treating 360 children for wasting, said on April 20 that they barely had enough supplies for the week.

"Some children's nutritional status has already worsened," said health and nutrition supervisor Xafsa Ali Hassan.

Somalia was not among 17 impoverished nations singled out to receive a share of this year's funds allocated to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) by the US, which has made the most drastic cuts among foreign aid donors.

OCHA says more than 200 health facilities have been closed and mobile teams disbanded.

It said in December that over 60,500 severely malnourished children had gone untreated as a result, and that the number could rise to 150,000 if funding gaps persisted.

Then, when the Iran war erupted, domestic fuel prices leapt 150%.

"Somalia is really hard hit by the Iran war because people are still reeling from the impact of the previous drought," said IRC's Abdulkadir. "It's very difficult for people to absorb these shocks."

OCHA has appealed for $852 million from global donors to stave off a full-blown famine.

This is far below the $1.42 billion it requested last year - yet it has still barely received 14% of this amount.

Arab World

Israel Using Water Access as ‘Weapon’ in Gaza, Says MSF

Palestinians walk past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 15, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Israel Using Water Access as ‘Weapon’ in Gaza, Says MSF

Palestinians walk past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 15, 2026. (Reuters)
Palestinians walk past the rubble of residential buildings destroyed during the two-year Israeli offensive, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 15, 2026. (Reuters)

Israeli authorities are systematically depriving people in Gaza of the water they need to live, Doctors Without Borders warned Tuesday, decrying a campaign of "collective punishment" against Palestinians.

The extensive destruction of civilian water infrastructure in Gaza coupled with obstruction of access constitutes "an integral part of Israel's genocide", said the medical charity, which goes by its French acronym MSF.

In a report entitled "Water as a Weapon", MSF said the "engineered scarcity" was occurring alongside "direct killing of civilians, the devastation of health facilities, (and) the destruction of homes".

Together, this amounted to "the deliberate infliction of destructive and inhumane conditions of life on the Palestinian population in Gaza", warned the report, based on testimonies and data MSF collected in 2024 and 2025.

"Israeli authorities know that without water, life ends," MSF emergency manager Claire San Filippo said in a statement.

"Yet they have deliberately and systematically obliterated water infrastructure in Gaza, whilst consistently blocking water-related supplies from entering."

Despite an October ceasefire that largely halted the Gaza war that began after Hamas's 2023 attack on Israel, the territory remains gripped by daily violence as Israeli strikes continue and both the Israeli military and Hamas accuse each other of breaking the truce.

- 'Engineered' scarcity -

The MSF report pointed to data from the United Nations, European Union and World Bank indicating that Israel had destroyed or damaged nearly 90 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza.

"Desalination plants, boreholes, pipelines and sewage systems have been rendered inoperable or inaccessible," it said.

The charity documented several incidents where it clearly identified water trucks and boreholes had been shot at or destroyed.

"Palestinians have been injured and killed simply trying to access water," San Filippo said.

The charity said that besides the local authorities, it was the largest producer and main distributor of drinking water in Gaza.

Last month, it provided more than 5.3 million liters of water each day, which meets the minimum needs of more than 407,000 people, or a fifth of Gaza's population.

However, throughout the war, "Israeli military displacement orders have locked our teams out of areas where we had provided water to hundreds of thousands of people," the MSF statement said.

- 'Perfect storm' -

MSF said a third of its requests to bring in critical water and sanitation supplies, including water desalination units, pumps, water tanks, insect repellent, chlorine and other chemicals to treat water, had "been rejected or left unanswered".

San Filippo also cautioned that the deprivation of water, "combined with dire living conditions, extreme overcrowding, and a collapsed health system, create a perfect storm for the spread of diseases".

MSF called on Israel to "immediately restore water for people at the required levels in Gaza".

It urged Israel's allies to "use their leverage to pressure Israel to stop impeding humanitarian access".

Arab World

Mladenov Expected in Cairo, Israel to Discuss Gaza Ceasefire

A Palestinian worker breaks up concrete while working on rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 19, 2026. (Reuters)
A Palestinian worker breaks up concrete while working on rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 19, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT

Mladenov Expected in Cairo, Israel to Discuss Gaza Ceasefire

A Palestinian worker breaks up concrete while working on rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 19, 2026. (Reuters)
A Palestinian worker breaks up concrete while working on rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, April 19, 2026. (Reuters)

Nickolay Mladenov, the Board of Peace's lead envoy for Gaza, is expected to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday as part of renewed political efforts to push forward the Gaza ceasefire, revealed sources.

A delegation from the Hamas movement is also expected to visit the Egyptian capital to join other members of the group and representatives of Palestinian factions who have been there for weeks.

Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Mladenov will visit Israel hours after arriving in Cairo. He will address with Israeli officials recent discussions that were held with Hamas. The officials will convey their positions on the new proposals over the ceasefire agreement that were drafted in coordination with mediators, notably Egypt.

In Cairo, Mladenov will meet with Hamas leaders and the mediators as part of consultations to reach a final framework that brings together all parties to implement the ceasefire to ensure that it can move forward to its next phase that includes the disarmament of factions in Gaza

Negotiations have hit a snag over Hamas and other factions’ insistence on Israel fulfilling its first phase commitments related to relief and allowing the entry of trucks into Gaza before they can be demanded to make any commitments on their end.

Israel and the United States, meanwhile, are demanding moving forward towards the most significant part of the second phase: disarmament.

A leading Hamas source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the movement is “open to dealing positively with all proposals, but it is insistent on Israel implementing everything that is demanded of it in the first phase, especially in ceasing its ongoing violations, ensuring the entry of relief and kicking of reconstruction of hospital and school infrastructure.”

The source said that Hamas “does not mind” discussions over its weapons, “but tying the issue to limited humanitarian causes without making clear stances over reconstruction, governance of the enclave and the future of the political path will lead towards the unknown.”

“The situation will remain unchanged as long as there are attempts to impose conditions that the movement and other Gaza factions refuse,” it added.

Israel must implement its commitments to the first phase of the ceasefire, urged the source. Hamas has agreed to discuss the second phase even as Israel carries out its first phase conditions.