Ayrault was on a visit to prepare for a May 30 worldwide ministerial meeting to try to revive Middle East peace talks that have been frozen since a US-brokered initiative collapsed in April 2014. Israeli rejection of the Paris move is not entirely un-understandable as the Jewish state has been opposing global involvement in peace efforts as that could mean justice for Palestinians and accountability of Tel Aviv for its atrocities against people of Palestine.
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The French Foreign Minister met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and said an upcoming Paris summit aimed at restarting peace talks will proceed, despite Israeli objections that direct negotiations are the only way forward.
The Palestinians, who have welcomed the French proposal, also said it will be held as planned.
Netanyahu cited concerns about the nature of the conference, worrying that an worldwide forum might force a decision. “Why not for Palestine?” he said. The world will have to adopt a formidable stand telling Israel that nothing is acceptable until and unless Palestinians are treated as a sovereign entity and the two-state solution is attained, as per the 1967 borders.
Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated his opposition to indirect peace attempts, blaming the Palestinians for rejecting direct talks.
Ayrault travelled to Ramallah after the meeting with Netanyahu, in the occupied West Bank to discuss the initiative with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, noting that neither Ayrault, nor Mahmoud Abbas gave any statements to reporters.
Ayrault went to Israel and the Palestinian Territories on Sunday to sell the intuitive to the parties concerned.
“I know that Netanyahu does not agree [to the French proposal]”, he said, but France would continue to pursue the initiative and that its ultimate goal was for both sides to return to direct talks.
Foreign involvement in negotiations, Netanyahu said, offers an “escape hatch” for Palestinians not to recognize Israel as a nation state. “Netanyahu said he only wanted direct negotiations, but that option is stalled”, he added.
Ayrault rebuked Netanyahu’s implication of French bias against Israel, although he did not downplay his frustrations with the Israeli government’s stance. The U.S., Russia, EU, the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council, the Arab League and some other countries, not including representatives from either Israel or Palestine, have been invited for a May 30 meeting.
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Sissi’s speech came hours after Paris announced that a Middle East peace conference initially slated to take place in the coming weeks would be postponed to ensure the United States would be able to attend.
