Macron’s Empty Applause for Abbas Betrays Pales­tinian Democracy

When President Emmanuel Macron sat down with Israel’s Channel 12, he declared that appointing a vice president to the Pales­tinian Authority was a suffi­cient reform step to justify France’s recog­nition of a Pales­tinian state. With those words, Macron handed Mahmoud Abbas a free pass—applauding a cosmetic gesture while ignoring the single reform Pales­tinians have been demanding for nearly two decades: the right to vote in free presi­dential and legislative elections.

Gaza is in ruins. Pales­tinians are mourning the dead, demanding account­ability, and searching for hope. Yet the leader of France, instead of pressing for meaningful change, congrat­u­lates Abbas for adding a new title to his stagnant admin­is­tration. A vice president will not restore legit­imacy to a leadership that has lost touch with its people. Only elections can do that.

The failures of the Pales­tinian Authority are not abstract. For nearly 20 years, no Pales­tinian has been allowed to cast a vote for president or parliament. Insti­tu­tions have withered into patronage networks where loyalty is rewarded and dissent is punished. Corruption is rife. Security forces are deployed more often to silence critics than to protect citizens. Instead of devising a strategy to end occupation or unify Pales­tinians, the Authority clings to power and survives on foreign aid and inter­na­tional indulgence.

Meanwhile, Abbas’s diplomacy has grown irrel­evant. His annual speeches at the UN, once moments of antic­i­pation, now amount to little more than ritual. They win applause in New York but leave no impact in Ramallah, Nablus, or Rafah.

And yet Abbas himself once admitted what Macron refuses to say: that elections are essential. In a June 9, 2025 letter to the Saudi Crown Prince and the President of France, he promised to hold them within a year, describing the vote as a national and consti­tu­tional entitlement. Macron knows this. Every European leader knows this. But rather than insist on account­ability, the French president chose to pretend that appointing a deputy amounts to reform. It is not reform. It is evasion.

Pales­tinians are exhausted—tired of political stagnation, tired of leaders who speak for them but never with them, tired of hearing inter­na­tional leaders applaud symbolism while ignoring the democ­ratic void at home. They do not need another round of hollow recog­nition from govern­ments thousands of miles away. France, the UK, and Canada may soon line up to “recognize” Palestine, but recog­nition without renewal is theater. None of these capitals control Pales­tinian sover­eignty. The only state that can make it real is Israel.

That reality requires strategy, not ceremony. It means engaging Israelis directly, not just the G7. It means building trust, leverage, and shared interests with the only people who can turn two states into more than an idea. Macron’s applause for Abbas advances none of this. Worse, it signals to Pales­tinians that the inter­na­tional community is comfortable with cosmetic reforms while democracy is indef­i­nitely postponed.

Macron had an oppor­tunity to side with the Pales­tinian people in their demand for genuine repre­sen­tation. He could have used his platform to call for elections, to demand that Abbas honor his own commit­ments, to insist that legit­imacy comes from the ballot box, not foreign applause. Instead, he stood with Abbas, reinforcing a stagnant status quo that serves diplomacy in Paris but leaves Pales­tinians trapped in paralysis.

Pales­tinians deserve better. They deserve leaders who reflect their will, insti­tu­tions that uphold their dignity, and inter­na­tional partners who support—not betray—their democ­ratic aspira­tions. Until that happens, no new titles in Ramallah and no applause from Paris will change the truth: Pales­tinian democracy remains hostage to the refusal of its own leaders, and the indif­ference of those abroad who find symbolism easier than substance.

Samer Sinijlawi
is chairman of the Jerusalem Devel­opment Fund and a Fatah political activist from Jerusalem. He belongs to a young gener­ation of Pales­tinian leaders who believe that intensive dialogue and bridge-building with the people on the other side, the Israelis, are necessary. Samer is a passionate advocate of the Olmert-Al-Kidwa peace proposal, which offers a shared vision for the transition from the current conflict to peaceful coexis­tence between Pales­tinians and Israelis. He is also part of the Middle East Network Programme at the Centre for Liberal Modernity.