French Foreign minister jean-Marc Ayrault said his country is trying to convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris this month, to try to revive the long-stalled peace process between the two sides. Israel had already formally rejected an invitation by Paris to take part in an international peace conference before Christmas, saying it was a distraction from the goal of direct negotiations with the Palestinians. However, the French leadership remains determined to stage the conference, which it believes would lay the groundwork for a viable political process. Paris believes that bringing Netanyahu and Abbas to meet with President Francois Hollande a day after the conference would be a way of circumventing Israeli accusations that the French initiative aims to impose a multilateral solution. “We have to recreate the conditions for a two-state solution, we must keep this in mind. Because forgetting about this will be a serious political mistake for the Palestinian people, but also a serious political mistake for security in this Middle East region,” Ayrault said.
The French top diplomat confirmed that invitations had been sent to Netanyahu and Abbas to attend a face-to-face meeting. However, in a telephone conversation between the French President Hollande and Prime Minister Netanyahu, the Israeli leader stressed that he would be willing to meet the Palestinian leader in Paris for “direct talks without preconditions,” only if the international conference in the French capital would be cancelled, while reiterating Jerusalem’s position, in which Israeli officials will “not attend an international conference, which does not contribute to achieving peace.” Nevertheless, the Israeli demand to cancel the conference was rejected, as France is determined to implement its peace initiative. “We, France, are still determined to implement our initiative of a meeting. We are working very hard in relation with our partners, to create conditions to organize it. I’m not giving you a date, but the sooner the better,” Ayrault said.
The Palestinian President’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh responded to the French invitation, saying that the Palestinians welcomed “any French effort to salvage the faltering political process.” France has repeatedly tried to breathe new life into the peace process this year, holding a preliminary conference in June where the United Nations, European Union, United States and major Arab countries gathered to discuss proposals without the Israelis or Palestinians present.