France backs Abbas, hopes crisis nurtures peace

Paris, June 30: France threw its unconditional support behind Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas today and said it hoped the crisis in Gaza would help re-ignite the stalled peace process.

Hamas Islamists routed Abbas's forces in Gaza two weeks ago, compromising efforts to found a Palestinian state in both the coastal enclave and the inland West Bank, where the Palestinian president still holds sway.

''At this time we are standing alongside the Palestinian Authority, the only representative of the Palestinian people,'' French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said after talks with the visiting Abbas.

''We think that these sad events are the chance ... for the hope of peace to return between the Israelis and the Palestinians,'' he added. ''Now is the moment, as this opportunity will fade in the coming days and weeks.'' He did not say what role Hamas might play in any peace moves but Abbas appeared in no mood to talk to the Islamist movement.

''What happened in Gaza is a bloody and ferocious coup d'etat against Palestinian legitimacy,'' he told reporters following an earlier meeting tiday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

''What I heard from President Sarkozy is support for a political solution on the basis of international legitimacy, the Arab initiative, and US President (George W) Bush's vision,'' he said.

France announced this week it was releasing 15 million dollars in funds for the Palestinian Authority and Kouchner said he believed the Israelis were shortly set to transfer ''at least'' 300 million dollars to Abbas's new government.

Israel agreed last Sunday to hand over some of the Palestinian tax revenues it had collected but then withheld after Hamas won elections in 2006. However, details of the transfer have yet to be fully worked out.

Abbas said he had told Sarkozy he wanted an international peacekeeping force to move into Gaza. Sarkozy's spokesman said the French president did not address the issue, but had made clear he fully backed the Palestinian authority.

''We want you to succeed. You are the guarantee of peace.

That is clear,'' he quoted Sarkozy as telling Abbas.

Reuters

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