The chances of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians are fading, and worldwide partners must provide incentives to get them back to the negotiating table, world powers and Arab countries said at a Paris meeting.
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Representatives from almost 30 countries were meeting in Paris on Friday to begin talks on pursuing peace in the Middle East – without the Israelis and Palestinians.
Kerry has not said much about the French effort, but the fact that he is attending the Friday meeting – the French rescheduled it to fit his schedule – worries the Israelis.
Asked if he would support an worldwide conference later this year with the Israelis and Palestinians attending, Kerry told reporters: “We’re just starting, let’s get into the conversations”. The meeting will allow participants to “reaffirm their commitment to the two-state solution and their determination to create the conditions for resumption of direct talks”, he said. They are alarmed that actions on the ground, in particular continued acts of violence and ongoing settlement activity, are dangerously imperilling the prospects for a two-state solution.
“We’re never going to abandon efforts to bring about a two-state solution”.
Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.
The gathering failed to achieve an agreement about the French proposal to bring Israelis and Palestinians for an global peace conference by the autumn.
Gold said that these words indicate that the Paris conference has already “made the Palestinian positions more extreme, and made it more hard to resume direct talks”.
France will Friday host talks on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that have received a chilly response from Washington, but diplomats say merely swinging the spotlight back onto the stalemate is a victory.
“The border should be established between Israelis and Palestinians”.
Another Israeli opposition leader, Isaac Herzog, who had been negotiating a partnership with Netanyahu until the prime minister chose Lieberman, refused to continue talks with Netanyahu.
However, neither Israel nor the Palestinians have been invited.
The head of Israel’s foreign ministry Dore Gold said on the eve of the talks that they would “completely fail”, and that the Jewish state would prefer a Middle East-driven process backing direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians.
Abbas, who welcomed the conference in France, emphasised that “the goal must be to implement the visions of both states, based on the border agreement of 1967 and the capital of the Palestinian state being East Jerusalem, so that both countries can live side by side, in safety, stability and peace – if Israel wishes to seek peace”.
The conference also aims to lay the groundwork for comprehensive peace talks and establish several working groups. “Their effort failed as we see today in the deserts of Iraq and Syria”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuffed the French initiative and said a deal can only be reached in direct negotiations.
Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East War and has been controlling it ever since despite global condemnation.
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The Arab Peace Initiative, also known as the Saudi Initiative, is a 10-sentence proposal for an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict that was endorsed by the Arab League in 2002.
