French President Emmanuel Macron warned yesterday that expanding Israeli settlements threatened a Palestinian state and US-led peace efforts, as France hosted Arab and European ministers to find ways to boost the Palestinians after a Gaza ceasefire deal was announced.Macron hailed the ceasefire deal as a ‘great hope’ for the region, but said the ‘acceleration’ of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank was an ‘existential threat’ to a Palestinian state.It was ‘not only unacceptable and contrary to international law’ but ‘fuels tensions, violence, and instability’, he said in opening remarks to the meeting in Paris. ‘It fundamentally contradicts the American plan and our collective ambition for a peaceful region.’
