France warns of 'risk of apartheid' in Israel, backs 'two-state solution'

France on May 23 warned that Israel is facing the risk of “long-lasting apartheid” in Israel if Palestinians fail to secure their own state. Just two days after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict agreed for a ceasefire in a truce brokered by Egypt with France also playing a role, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian became the first senior official of the European nation to use the term “apartheid” in reference to Israel. In an interview with RTL radio and Le Figaro newspaper, Le Drian made the comments considering the violent clashes between Jews and Arabs that erupted in major Israeli cities during the latest armed conflict.

While Israeli forces and Palestinian militants engaged in offensive engulfing Gaza Strip and West Bank into chaos, many incidents of violence also occurred in Israeli cities with Arab mobs assaulting Jews and torching synagogues. These attacks prompted retaliation with Jews attacking the other side and devastating the years of peaceful coexistence within Isreal.

“It’s the first time and it clearly shows that if in the future we had a solution other than the two-state solution, we would have the ingredients of long-lasting apartheid,” Le Drian said using the word for the white supremacist oppression of the black community in South Africa between 1948 and 1991.

The French Foreign Minister added that the “risk of apartheid is high” if Israel continues to take action “according to a single-state logic” but also if it maintains the status quo. He said, “Even the status quo produces that.”

Le Drian on Israeli- Palestinian conflict’s end

While Le Drain mentioned ‘apartheid’ in another television appearance on the LCI TV channel, he also talked about the world leaders who made the perception that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would end soon. Alluding to former US President Donald Trump’s striking pro-Isreal policy and the two-state solution that recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and pushed for a peace plan, the French Foreign Minister said that it created an impression that the decades-long crisis would soon cease to exist. 

"Those who thought that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would gradually be extinguished were mistaken. It shows the urgency of finding a political process," he said while highlighting the crucial need for a resolution.

Or else, he added, “we would then have the ingredients of long-lasting apartheid...if we continue to adopt a logic of one state or the status quo.”

IMAGE: AP