French President Emmanuel Macron called for a relaunch in political dialogue to achieve peace in the region surrounding Israel and the Palestinian territories on Wednesday (July 20), as he welcomed the leader of the Palestinian Authority in Paris, Reuters reports.
Macron and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas held hands as they entered a conference room in the Elysee presidential palace, where they were slated to have a one-on-one meeting to discuss security in the Middle East, where violence and tensions have flared up again recently.
"We both know - we all know - that a new deadly spiral could start at any moment," Macron said, speaking alongside Abbas.
"We have to seize every moment to be able to re-ignite this fire (for political dialogue), this capacity to move forward," Macron added.
Macron also said France remains ready to aid Palestinians to prevent food insecurity brought about by the conflict in Ukraine.
Abbas' Paris visit comes after a trip made last week by United States President Joe Biden in the West Bank, during which he pledged not to give up efforts to end the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, though he offered no new proposals to restart the stalled political dialogue between the two sides.
Abbas said he counted on Macron to push for efforts to restore peace and find a just solution to the stalemate.
The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in parts of the West Bank, received a boost last month when the European Union agreed to restore funding frozen by a dispute over school textbooks.
