France does not mean to threaten Israel, but a move to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank would be considered a “serious” violation of international law and would inevitably have negative consequences for bilateral relations, Paris’s ambassador in Tel Aviv said in an interview.
“There are violations of international law of different degrees of severity, and an annexation of the Jordan Valley and the settlements would be considered a serious one,” Eric Danon told The Times of Israel. “This qualification implies that there would be consequences, as it would not be considered ‘serious’ otherwise.”
In an hour-and-a-half long interview conducted via Zoom, Danon also explained why Paris is not currently considering blacklisting Hezbollah, and how he surprisingly became his country’s first Jewish ambassador to Israel, defying longstanding French diplomatic dogma that said that Jews should never represent Paris in the Jewish state due to dual loyalty concerns.
France, like most European countries, has been very outspoken in its opposition to an Israeli annexation. On April 23, French Ambassador to the United Nations Nicolas de Rivière told the Security Council that such a move would “constitute a blatant violation of international law,” could “not pass unchallenged and shall not be overlooked in our relationship with Israel.”
Many observers understood this wording to imply a stern warning, including of possible sanctions against Israel. But Danon said his colleague’s statement should not be read as a menace.
Like the European Union, the French government has vehemently condemned Israeli plans for settlement expansion, but so far not reacted to them with any kind of sanctions.
But “annexation is different,” Danon said. “You cannot compare a tender for a new neighborhood in a settlement — which we consider a bad thing, indeed a violation of international law — with annexation. Annexation is much more serious — it’s a declaration that this is now Israeli territory. That’s entirely different.”
Danon, 63, was one of 11 European ambassadors to Israel who in May filed a so-called demarche with the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem protesting the planned annexation. President Emmanuel Macron recently also sent a personal letter to Netanyahu warning against advancing such a move.
But Danon, a veteran diplomat who entered the Quai d’Orsay more than 30 years ago, declined to discuss which concrete steps Paris would take if Israel went ahead with its annexation plan.
“I will not elaborate further about something that has not happened yet,” he said. “We shall see what effectively happens and what will be the response, in particular at the European level.”
No plans to ban Hezbollah
Danon has studied terrorism since the 1970s and is considered an expert in international security and disarmament. But he did not seem bothered by the fact that France continues to refuse to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, a step other European countries have taken in recent years.
Following the Netherlands and the UK, Germany on April 30 outlawed Hezbollah activities, ending its previous policy of differentiating between the group’s military and political wings. France currently sees no reason to follow suit, according to Danon.
“The mere fact that the Germans have changed their position does not necessarily mean that we have to change our position as well,” he said.
A senior official from the United Arab Emirates on Monday urged Israel to desist from advancing its announced plan to unilaterally annex large parts of the West Bank, reiterating his country’s vehement opposition to the move.
“Continued Israeli talk of annexing Palestinian lands must stop,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash wrote in English on his Twitter account.
“Any unilateral Israeli move will be a serious setback for the peace process, undermine Palestinian self determination & constitute a rejection of the international & Arab consensus towards stability & peace,” he added.
Gargash, a member of the UAE’s federal cabinet, is known to be one of the Gulf officials most open to normalization with Israel. In March 2019, he publicly called for a “strategic shift” in Israel-Arab ties, saying the Arab world’s decades-old decision to boycott the Jewish state had been a mistake.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent weeks has repeatedly vowed to advance his plan to apply Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and all settlements across the West Bank in accordance with the US administration’s Middle East peace plan.
According to the coalition agreement between his Likud party and Defense Minister Benny Gantz’s Blue and White slate, the annexation plan can be brought to a vote as soon as July 1, though Likud minister Ze’ev Elkin said Sunday that a delay of several days or weeks is to be expected.
Like most of the international community, the UAE has been vocally opposed to annexation.
“This unilateral step is illegal, undermines chances for peace and contradicts all efforts made by the international community to reach a lasting political solution in accordance with relevant international resolutions,” UAE foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on May 10.
In the statement, carried by the state-owned Emirates News Agency, Al Nahyan explicitly dismissed Netanyahu’s often-made claim that the Arab world would ultimately accept annexation.
Just days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers that he had set a July date for the annexation of parts of the West Bank and had no intention of changing it, a minister in his Likud party said Sunday that the timing could be delayed by days or weeks.
Ze’ev Elkin, a member of the top-level security cabinet, told Army Radio that the July 1 date cited in the coalition deal signed with Benny Gantz’s Blue and White party wasn’t set in stone.
Netanyahu himself has previously indicated that extending Israeli sovereignty to settlements and the Jordan Valley, some 30 percent of the West Bank — a move tantamount to annexation — would only be done after a joint Israeli-US committee completes mapping the exact territory to be annexed and the status of each part.
While Netanyahu had originally hoped for an immediate okay for annexation from the US when its president, Donald Trump, announced his administration’s peace plan earlier this year, that has been delayed by the formation of the mapping committee.
Elkin said Sunday that there was no guarantee that the work of the committee, which has since been formed, would be completed by July 1.
“I know they’re working on the map, and that process could take some more time,” he said. “July 1 is the first day when the matter can be brought to the cabinet and the Knesset. It could possibly take a few more days or weeks, but generally I think the prime minister is very clear that he intends to advance this.”
Elkin said there were many signs that the mapping would be done by “sometime in July.”
In recent days, even Trump administration officials have appeared to be seeking to dampen expectations that Washington will quickly green-light the move without any progress in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
The State Department’s chief spokesperson said earlier this month that any action should be part of discussions between Israel and the Palestinians on the administration’s peace plan.
The coalition deal underlying Israel’s new unity government allows it to initiate moves starting July 1 to implement Trump’s controversial plan.
The plan, rejected by the Palestinians, gives the green light from Washington for Israel to annex Jewish settlements and the Jordan Valley, a swath of land running along the border with Jordan. Palestinians say the US plan ends prospects for a two-state solution to their decades-long conflict with Israel.
The plan is vehemently opposed by Jordan and the rest of the Arab world, as well as most European countries.
Borrell’s brief statement largely focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the need for a two-state solution, the importance of international law, and Brussels’s “grave concerns” over Jerusalem’s supposed plan to unilaterally annex the Jordan Valley and all settlements across the West Bank.
Meanwhile, several European leaders reportedly sent personal letters to Netanyahu in recent days asking him not to push ahead with plans to unilaterally annex parts of the West Bank.
Jordan’s foreign minister on Thursday night warned the top diplomats of the US and UK against the “unprecedented threat” Israel’s planned annexation of parts of the West Bank posed to the region, his office said.
Earlier this month Amman threatened to review its relationship with Israel if the Jewish state goes ahead with the controversial plans. Netanyahu said in an interview Thursday that he believed Amman wouldn’t alter the 1994 peace accord, arguing that it was a vital interest for Jordan as well as for Israel.
Washington on Thursday warned its citizens to take extra caution when traveling to the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, anticipating potential violence.
A security alert by the US Embassy in Jerusalem advised citizens to “maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness.”
Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians last week warned the Israel Defense Forces’ chief of staff and the defense minister of a potential wave of violence if the government follows through with its plans to unilaterally annex portions of the West Bank.
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