Amb Paoli: 'In diplomacy, you never give up' so we must support all efforts to elect a new president

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00:00Nogha, stay with us.

00:01We're going to cross now to retired French ambassador Patrice Paoli, former ambassador

00:07of France to Lebanon.

00:10Thank you for being with us here on France 24.

00:13Thank you very much for inviting me.

00:15First question, how do you make sense of why this ceasefire deal has come about now?

00:21Well, I think the many reasons have been put forward by the journalists and people we've

00:28been listening to since the beginning of your news bulletin.

00:32I think that probably at some point there is a kind of pressure that's been exercised

00:39on Israel, perhaps not in the past by the United States because they've been providing

00:45Israel with arms, as it was said by your journalist, and without any limitation.

00:51So maybe there is a new kind of pressure from the American administration with their negotiator

00:56Amos Hochstein, who was quite active alongside with French diplomacy.

01:03Perhaps what has happened also, the isolation maybe of Israel on the international scene

01:07plays a role.

01:08And as your journalist said, probably also waiting for Trump.

01:12So you can buy time now.

01:15The fact is that the ceasefire is a necessity.

01:18We should welcome any news of a ceasefire as good news, even though it seems quite fragile

01:24and difficult to implement for the time being.

01:27Yeah, very difficult to implement, as has been reported.

01:32Your thoughts on the deployment of the Lebanese army south of the Litani River, that area

01:38that borders Israel, how effective can that be?

01:43Will Hezbollah stick to its word?

01:46Well, I cannot speak in the name of Hezbollah, of course.

01:51What I would like to say is that our position in France has always been, and I'm not a spokesman

01:55for France now, but in the past and when I was an ambassador to Lebanon, our effort was

02:01always to enhance the military capacities of the Lebanese armed forces to regain control

02:08of this and to ensure control of the border area, bordering area, according to 1701, Resolution

02:161701 Security Council, which had provided more or less the same elements that we see

02:22in the ceasefire agreement which was announced recently.

02:27So this was consistently our policy, the policy of France to enhance those capacities.

02:32Today, it is also the challenge that we are facing.

02:35There is an American-French commitment to support the Lebanese armed forces to redeploy

02:42our armed forces on the border to ensure it's part of the deal.

02:47So it's a bet.

02:49Several Israeli media outlets, including newspaper Haaretz, reporting that Benjamin Netanyahu

02:55conditioned France's involvement in this truce agreement on Paris reversing itself when it

03:03came to his personal arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court.

03:09The French foreign minister this Wednesday, after the truce went into effect, announcing

03:14that if Netanyahu came to France, he would not be arrested because Israel is not a member

03:23of the ICC.

03:25Your thoughts on the timing of all these announcements?

03:28Well, probably the announcement by the penal court was an element in decisions made by

03:35the Israeli government.

03:36I don't know.

03:37I don't have any news of any deal that was struck to ensure French participation in the

03:43deal.

03:44I think that the French presence in the deal about Lebanon is only normal because the Lebanese

03:50government will be insisting on it.

03:52We've been involved.

03:53I think that when you could have noticed in the past months what we would call Lebanon

03:58fatigue, one of the only countries which has remained involved at the sides of Lebanon

04:04was France.

04:05I think that the part of the deal, having France on board with this supervision committee,

04:13I don't know exactly what the name of it, but the way the agreement will be implemented

04:18is something normal.

04:19I think there was an insistence on the part of Lebanon to have a French participation.

04:24We're present in UNIFIL.

04:26We have been consistently present to reinforce the government in Lebanon, authorities in

04:34Lebanon.

04:36It's normal.

04:37I don't know of any deal between Israel and France.

04:38Do they seem plausible, those reports?

04:42I think everything is possible.

04:44I don't know.

04:45But I don't see any deal.

04:46I think that as far as the penal court is concerned, I mean, we can only support, and

04:51this is what was said, if I read and heard correctly, by the French government.

04:57Then we have been very active to have an international penal court.

05:01Now we have it.

05:02We can only support its way of doing things and independence and support what we have

05:10always wanted.

05:12So I don't know of any deal with Israel on that.

05:15Ambassador Powdy, we did hear from the French president this Wednesday, looking forward,

05:19Emmanuel Macron pressing the case for Lebanon now to fill that void at the top.

05:26There's been no president of Lebanon for two years.

05:29Let's take a listen.

05:31This agreement that was signed a few hours ago must be the start of a new chapter for

05:38Lebanon.

05:40The end of hostilities offers an opportunity for the Lebanese to begin, with the support

05:45of their partners, a lasting recovery.

05:48They need to seize it urgently and resolutely.

05:52As I speak to you, this is the responsibility of the Lebanese authorities in all of those

05:58with important political roles.

06:00Patrice Powdy, realistically, can rival factions in Lebanon now agree on a president?

06:11Well, that's a good question.

06:14I don't think I have a good answer.

06:16The best answer is that it is badly needed.

06:19Again, I mean, speaking about French involvement in Lebanon, I mean, I think we're the only

06:26country where there is a special envoy by the president to help out the Lebanese parties

06:32to find a deal, strike a deal about a president, which is badly needed in Lebanon, to appoint

06:40a government which would be representative and which could take the needed decisions

06:46in the country to face economic crisis, social crisis.

06:49So yes, we know what we want.

06:52Is it possible or not?

06:53I think that in diplomacy, you never give up.

06:56So you have to go on trying your best to get to this deal.

07:03So I think that we have no option but support all efforts in order to have a president elected

07:10which could, in his turn, appoint a government.

07:15It's a badly needed necessity, especially in those times.

07:18Patrice Powdy, so many thanks for speaking with us here on France 24.

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