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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.