The former Minister of Foreign Affairs was the guest on 8:30 am franceinfo, Friday January 5, 2024.
Published
Reading time: 16 min
:quality(50)/2024/01/05/video-1-6597ba975a074136463321.jpg)
Hubert Védrine, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was the guest on 8:30 a.m. franceinfo, Friday January 5, 2024. Plan of the “post-war” in Gaza, diplomatic influence in Israel and tribute to Jacques Delors… He responded to Jean -Rémi Baudot and Agathe Lambret.
Israel-Hamas war: ‘The battle after’ begins as plan for Gaza’s future unveiled
Israeli Defense Minister’s plan for post-war Gaza marks “the start of the battle after“, estimates Hubert Védrine. The Israeli government, which must give its approval to this plan, is divided on the future of the Palestinian enclave. Unlike some of his fellow ministers, Yoav Gallant sees it without Israeli settlers. His plan advocates in fact that “there will be no Israeli civilian presence in the Gaza Strip after the war objectives are achieved“.
“It’s not the worst plan“, reacts Hubert Védrine. “The worst are the people who reason like the Americans towards the Indians during colonization“, those who “want to remove the two million inhabitants of the West Bank, take over Gaza, resettle settlers in Gaza“.
The former head of French diplomacy, under François Mitterrand, refers to Itamar Ben Gvir, Israeli Minister of National Security, and Bezalel Smotrich, Israeli Minister of Finance. The first called on Monday for a return of Jewish settlers to Gaza after the ongoing war, and to “encourage” the Palestinian population to emigrate, the day after a similar call from the second.
Diplomatic pressure in Israel: “No one’s voice” weighed
For Hubert Védrine, another “battle“is playing out right now, in Israel.”Is it that [le Premier ministre] Benjamin Netanyahu will stay? Depending on whether it remains or not, it will trigger a new solution process or not.“, he analyzes. If he leaves power, “a sort of realism around territorial compromise will reimpose itself at one point or another“.
He finally reacts to the diplomatic efforts deployed since the start of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and in particular to the fifth official visit to Israel by the head of American diplomacy Anthony Blinken. “Nobody’s voice [n’a pesé]”, not even that of the United States. If they had been heard, “there would have been a small Palestinian state for 30 years, which would also be associated, in my opinion, with Israel and Jordan in a dynamic regional confederation“, he regrets.
Tribute to Jacques Delors: “No President of the European Commission has done so well since.”
“He’s a magnificent man“, declares Hubert Védrine about Jacques Delors, former minister and ex-president of the European Commission, who died on December 27 at the age of 98. A national tribute, chaired by Emmanuel Macron, is paid Friday to the one who had given up to present himself as a left-wing candidate in the 1995 presidential election. For Hubert Védrine, he was a “tremendous“President of the European Commission.”There is a giant nostalgia, because no Commission President has done as well as him since.“
Regarding the legacy of Jacques Delors, on the political level and on the European level, Hubert Védrine is more reserved. “He has a very beautiful journey, perhaps even more so on a human and social level than on a European level. MBut can this be transposed to today’s Europe? Can we learn political lessons from this? It’s less obvious.”
According to him, Jacques Delors does not leave a “politically transposable heritage in a mechanical way“, but rather an intellectual heritage: “An inspiration, a European spirit, which is against narrow nationalisms, narrow selfishness“. Emmanuel Macron “will be right” to claim this heritage during the solemn national tribute to the Invalides.
———————————–
Watch the entire 8:30 a.m. franceinfo broadcast on Friday January 5, 2024 :