• USA : L’ambassadeur français sortant compare Trump à Louis XIV. « Israël va devenir un Etat d’apartheid » – Site de la chaîne AlManar-Liban
    http://french.almanar.com.lb/1332157

    Les propos du désormais ex-ambassadeur de France comparant Trump à Louis XIV ont été très repris. Ses commentaires sur le deal du siècle pour "résoudre" la question palestinienne beaucoup moins. Et c’est dommage !

    L’ambassadeur français sortant a également déclaré qu’il croyait que le deal du siècle (plan de paix américain bafouant les droits des Palestiniens) était voué à l’échec.

    « Je suis proche de Jared Kushner… Partout dans l’histoire de l’humanité, lorsqu’il y a une négociation entre deux parties, le [parti] le plus puissant impose des conditions à la partie la plus faible », a-t-il expliqué.

    « C’est la base du plan de paix de Jared Kushner – c’est une proposition très proche de ce que veulent les Israéliens. Est-il voué à l’échec ? Je devrais dire oui à 99%, mais (il reste) 1%, il ne faut jamais oublier le 1%. Trump est particulièrement capable de pousser les Israéliens, car il est très populaire en Israël », a encore dit l’ambassadeur.

    #palestine #deal_du_siècle

    • A Conversation With Outgoing French Ambassador Gérard Araud
      Yara Bayoumy - Apr 19, 2019 - The Atlantic
      https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/conversation-outgoing-french-ambassador-gerard-araud/587458

      (...) Yara Bayoumy: Your career started out in the Middle East. Where do you see the situation there now, especially with the peace process?

      Gérard Araud: I’m close to Jared Kushner … Everywhere in the history of mankind, when there is a negotiation between two sides, the more powerful [party] is imposing terms on the weaker party. That’s the basis of Jared Kushner’s [peace plan]—it will be a proposal very close to what the Israelis want. Is it doomed to fail? I should say 99 percent yes, but 1 percent, you never forget the 1 percent. Trump is uniquely able to push the Israelis, because he is so popular in Israel.

      Bayoumy: But Trump hasn’t pushed the Israelis so far.

      Araud: Exactly, but if need be, he may do it. Once Trump told Macron, “I have given everything to the Israelis; the Israelis will have to give me something.” He is totally transactional. He is more popular than [Benjamin] Netanyahu in Israel, so the Israelis trust him. That’s the first bet, Kushner told me. The second is that the Palestinians may consider, it’s their last chance to get limited sovereignty. And the third element is Kushner is going to pour money on the Palestinians. Don’t forget, the Arabs are behind the Americans. The plan is 50 pages, we were told, very precise; we don’t know what is in the plan. But we’ll see.

      The problem is that the disproportion of power is such between the two sides that the strongest may conclude that they have no interest to make concessions. And also the fact that the status quo is extremely comfortable for Israel. Because they [can] have the cake and eat it. They have the West Bank, but at the same time they don’t have to make the painful decision about the Palestinians, really making them really, totally stateless or making them citizens of Israel. They won’t make them citizens of Israel. So they will have to make it official, which is we know the situation, which is an apartheid. There will be officially an apartheid state. They are in fact already.

      Bayoumy: How do you feel Kushner approached the peace plan?

      Araud: He is totally in real-estate mode. He is totally dry. He’s extremely smart, but he has no guts. He doesn’t know the history. And in a sense, it’s good—we are not here to say who is right, who is wrong; we are trying to find a way. So in a sense, I like it, but at the same time he is so rational, and he is so pro-Israeli also, that he may neglect the point that if you offer the Palestinians the choice between surrendering and committing suicide, they may decide the latter. Somebody like Kushner doesn’t understand that. (...)