French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Nov. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

France will help the Palestinian Authority draft a constitution for a future state, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday after talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris.

A number of major Western nations including France formally recognized a Palestinian state in September, a move driven by frustration with Israel over its war against Hamas in Gaza and a wish to promote a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict.

A US-brokered, Israel-Hamas ceasefire took hold in October. Israel has rejected the prospect of Palestinian statehood at this time, arguing it would “reward” Hamas for its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that touched off the Gaza war. US President Donald Trump expressed similar sentiments after France, Britain, Canada, and Australia formally recognized a Palestinian state earlier this year.

Macron said France and the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, would set up a joint committee to work on drawing up a new Palestinian constitution.

“This committee will be responsible for working on all legal aspects: constitutional, institutional, and organizational,” he told reporters.

“It will contribute to the work of developing a new constitution, a draft of which President Abbas has presented to me, and will aim to finalize all the conditions for such a State of Palestine,” Macron said.

He added France would contribute 100 million euros ($116.62 million) in humanitarian aid to Gaza for 2025.

Abbas said: “We are committed to a culture of dialogue and peace, and we want a democratic, unarmed state committed to the rule of law, transparency, justice, pluralism and the rotation of power.”

He said he valued efforts by US President Donald Trump and global partners to end the fighting in Gaza and bring about the next stage towards a durable peace with a disarming of terrorist groups including Hamas.

The US and Israel have castigated the Palestinian Authority, which has long been riddled with corruption, for maintaining a so-called “pay-for-slay” program, which rewards terrorists and their families for carrying out attacks against Israelis.

Under this policy, official payments are made to Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, the families of “martyrs” killed in attacks on Israelis, and Palestinians injured in terrorist attacks.

Reports estimate that approximately 8 percent of the PA’s budget is allocated to paying stipends to convicted terrorists and their families.