France: Signs France moving toward recognition of Palestine

In line with de Gaulle's "politique arabe de la France". Reports of Palestinian leaders' corruption is never reported in the media.  It would make people furious to know that their money is yet again being lavished on the palestinian "leaders": EU accuses Palestinians of wasting €2 billion in aid (2013), Abbas’s son highlighted in Palestinian corruption claims and Leaked Documents Show “Rampant” Corruption in Palestinian Authority.  

The Jerusalem Post reports:

[...] Following a meeting in Paris between Fabius and PA Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki, the French Foreign Ministry issued a statement that indicated Paris was beginning to set the groundwork for future French recognition of “Palestine.”

“The meeting,” according to the statement “also provided an opportunity to prepare for the first French-Palestinian intergovernmental seminar, the first session of which will be aimed at strengthening our relations in the political, economic and cultural spheres.”

One senior Western diplomatic official told The Jerusalem Post recently that the French backtracked from their UN proposal after facing objections from both Israel, who objected to the idea of imposing a solution form the outside, and the Palestinians, because they were unhappy that the resolution did not give them everything they wanted.

Instead, he said, the French would likely offer a trade off: recognition now instead of the resolution. The French parliament, along with a number of European parliaments, recommended taking such a step last year, after the Swedish government became the first significant Western European country to do so.

Unlike the Swedish move, or the move by the European parliaments, French recognition, the official said, could very well lead other EU states to take similar action.  Read more.