Emmanuel Macron calls for helping “vulnerable” countries in the Middle East to avoid contagion of the conflict

Will the appeal be heard? The countries “vulnerable” in the Middle East must benefit from international financial aid so as not to be drawn into the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Emmanuel Macron stressed on Friday November 10 during the Paris Peace Forum. “Everything is connected”, declared the president who moderated the first round table of the Forum. “Today, we have very vulnerable countries which, if we do not help them through international solidarity, will be dragged into the conflict which is underway” in the Middle East, he said.

“The action of the International Monetary Fund, particularly in Jordan and Egypt in the context of the conflict, is absolutely decisive”, he added. The IMF announced on Thursday an agreement for aid of 1.2 billion dollars for Jordan, a country bordering Israel, which fears the consequences of the war pitting Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas for a month. The country already hosts hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and fears a new mass exodus towards its territory.