Political officials told TV7 that Israel had been successful in toning down the final text of the concluding statement from the Paris conference and preventing the declaration from becoming a draft resolution in the UN Security Council – thanks, among other reasons, to the harsh response by Israel and its allies to Security Council resolution 2334, which defined Israeli construction beyond the 1967 lines as illegal. That said, Israeli spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the conference will only “push peace further back”, rather than bring the two sides together to try and resolve the concrete obstacles to peace.
“Well, this conference is really a futile conference and it’s one which is going to push peace further back. It’s a little bit like marriage counselling with neither the husband nor the wife present but 75 diplomats from around the world trying to solve a complex and rather intimate conflict,” said David Keyes, Israeli Prime Minister’s Spokesman.
Just several days before US President-elect Donald Trump is sworn into office, the meeting was seen by Israel as a platform for countries to send a strong signal to the incoming American President that a two-state solution to the conflict could not be compromised and that unilateral decisions by the new American Administration could exacerbate tension on the ground. That after Trump pledged to pursue more pro-Israeli policies, including the move of the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that would bolster the antient city as Israel’s capital, despite international objections.