Netanyahu slams France for ‘baffling’ peace proposal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has once again expressed frustration with a French initiative to revive talks between Israelis and Palestinians, describing the push as "baffling."
Netanyahu’s Tuesday comments came days after former French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Paris is planning to hold an international conference to bring together the Israeli and Palestinian sides as well as the US and some European and Arab states.
The French official emphasized that Paris would recognize a Palestinian state if efforts to find a solution to the conflict failed.
The hawkish Israeli premier said France’s ultimatum to Israel "ensures that the conference will fail," claiming that if the Palestinians “know their claim will be accepted in Europe... they will not do anything.”
The Palestinians, however, welcomed the proposal, with official Ahmad Majdalani saying that he expected an international group would be formed after the conference to support the negotiations.
An unnamed French diplomat, meanwhile, said Paris hopes to hold the meeting in summer 2016.
The last round of the so-called peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians collapsed in 2014. Tel Aviv’s illegal settlement activities and its refusal to release senior Palestinian prisoners were among major reasons behind the failure of the talks.
The Israeli premier formally suspended the so-called peace talks with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority on April 24, 2014, after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas forged a unity pact with the Hamas resistance movement, which is based in the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Israel responded to the unity pact by announcing tenders for the building of 4,800 illegal settler units on the occupied Palestinian territories.
Several nations including Britain, France, Spain, Ireland, Belgium and Portugal have symbolically recognized Palestine as a state. Sweden, however, officially recognized Palestine two years ago.
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