By John Irish
UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22 (Reuters) – France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday dismissed US President Donald Trump’s claims of having secured peace in Gaza, saying not a single humanitarian corridor had been reopened in the enclave despite the proclaimed peace.
In his final address to the United Nations before leaving office next year, Macron said the world was witnessing a spectacle that should shame everyone, rebuking Trump’s portrayal of his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic triumph.
He spoke at the United Nations General Assembly hours after Trump had from the same rostrum hailed his Gaza peace plan as a diplomatic triumph.
“A year ago, here in this very hall, about a dozen states had recognized Palestine. I hear the cynicism of some people: ‘Recognition is just a piece of paper, look at the reality,'” Macron said, banging his fist on the podium in his last speech at the United Nations before stepping down next May.
“But what credibility do we have if we continue to remain inactive in the face of Gaza? Some boast of a supposed peace. But that peace has not reopened humanitarian access for a single second. Are we simply to stand by and watch this spectacle that should shame us all?”
After Macron challenged Trump’s claims of success in Gaza, the US State Department quoted Trump on X as touting the UN Security Council’s unanimous approval of a 20-point Gaza peace plan and the creation of a Board of Peace and calling the development “fantastic.”
“One year ago, when I addressed the great leaders in this hall, the war in Gaza was still raging brutally,” Trump said in his earlier speech. “A few weeks later, we ended the war in Gaza, saving untold thousands of lives.”
Macron has faced criticism among some politicians and activists in France that he has done little since recognising a Palestinian state last September.
Despite the criticism, Paris has toughened its stance on settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, imposing some national sanctions and launching a process to ban products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
“Look at what is happening in the West Bank, where every day violations are committed. In whose name? Hamas has never operated in the West Bank,” Macron said.
“What is happening there is building, day by day, the impossibility of a project that should be based on respect for the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to exist.”
France’s ties with Israel have been particularly strained over the last year. Macron said those who believed that violating the sovereignty of all of Israel’s neighbors would ensure its security were mistaken.
“They are weakening Israel’s security, both today and in the future,” he said.
‘LONG LIVE THE UNITED NATIONS’
Seven months from France’s next presidential election, Macron was making his last appearance after first taking to the rostrum in 2017.
Often showing a keen eye for the trappings of diplomacy — the grand settings, the symbolism, the personal connections — he has at the same time failed to translate this into lasting strategic gains, analysts say.
However, he has always been a staunch defender of the multilateral system and the United Nations.
Macron warned against a global “return to the law of the jungle”, saying countries faced a choice between a world governed by power and coercion and a “civilized international society.”
“Our duty, more than ever, is to stand alongside the United Nations. We cannot accept the new order of impunity that some would like to build,” he said.
He ended his speech with “Long Live the United Nations!”
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Howard Goller)
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