However, the managing director of Israel’s foreign ministry, Dore Gold, likened the French talks to the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement, which carved up the Middle East between colonial powers, and said only direct talks could resolve the conflict.
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Friday’s communique also called on both sides to demonstrate “with policies and actions, a genuine commitment to the two-state solution in order to rebuild trust and create the conditions for fully ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and resolving all permanent status issues through direct negotiations” based on United Nations resolutions relating to the occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel as a effect of wars with its Arab neighbours in 1967 and 1973.
With U.S. efforts to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace in deep freeze for two years and Washington focused on its November presidential election, France lobbied for an global conference that began on Friday with the aim of breaking the apathy over the impasse and stir new diplomatic momentum.
France convened foreign ministers from major powers to try to put Israeli-Palestinian peace-making back on the worldwide agenda and find enough common ground to bring the two sides back to the table by the end of the year.
Netanyahu has been against the French approach and he stated ahead of the Paris conference that “the path to peace does not pass though worldwide committees that are trying to coerce an agreement, radicalize Palestinian demands and in doing so, distance peace”.
Another focus could be on whether past efforts, such as the Arab peace initiative could be revived. “We do not want to take action instead of the Palestinians and Israelis but we want to help them”. “We’re just starting, let’s get into the conversations”, he said while shuffling between meetings. The vision: Two States, One Homeland – where people can live wherever they want.Palestinian and Israeli activists have been working on the plan for four years. The first Israel can live with, though we fear that the present structure, or the present interpretation of what the French initiative would lead to, would actually be the second.
The Secretary-General underscored that changing regional dynamics and shared security concerns provide an opportunity to revisit the Arab Peace Initiative, with its vision of a comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab conflicts.
But Israeli and Palestinian representatives were absent at the gathering of about 30 ministers and organizations although the objective is to get the two sides to negotiate after the USA elections.
But Israel lashed out, saying the initiative would only strengthen the Palestinians’ hand and would go down in history as having “pushed peace further away”.
Palestinians say continuous Israeli settlement expansion in occupied territory since then has dimmed any prospect for the viable state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with a capital in Arab East Jerusalem.
Washington, which has traditionally taken on a mediating role between the two sides, has not tried to initiate any fresh peace moves since the previous US-led round of indirect talks collapsed in April 2014 and has remained decidedly cool on the French initiative.
“I promised that the work will begin before the end of the month”, French foreign minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters. “Everybody agreed today that you can’t impose a solution from outside”.
Still, Foreign Minister Riad Malki expressed disappointment.
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“The Arab peace initiative has all the elements for a final settlement”, he told journalists after the conference.
