AFP, Cairo :
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Saturday urged the resumption of Middle East peace talks, while warning that continued Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank damaged chances of a final deal.
“What’s important is that negotiations restart,” Fabius told reporters during a visit to Cairo, where he held what he said were intensive talks with Egyptian officials on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
“We need Israel’s security to be totally assured, that is essential, but at the same time we need the rights of the Palestinians to be recognised because without justice there can be no peace,” Fabius said.
“From this point of view, when settlement building continues, (the prospect of) a two-state solution recedes.”
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been comatose since a major US push for a final deal ended in failure in April 2014.
Israel says the process failed because the Palestinians refused to accept a US framework document outlining the way forward.
But the Palestinians blame the collapse on Israel’s settlement building and the government’s refusal to release veteran prisoners.
The relationship between the two sides remains severely strained, prompting the Palestinians to step up efforts on the international stage to seek their promised state.
Fabius met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry as part of a regional visit aimed at kick-starting the stalled talks.
“For 40 years, we’ve had negotiations but they’ve never been successful, so we need to change the method,” the minister said. “All this must be endorsed by the international community and… by a United Nations resolution.”
The UN has repeatedly called on Israel to halt the construction of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, which it has branded as illegal and a move to erase the prospect of a Palestinian state.
Fabius will head to Amman Sunday for discussions with Jordan’s King Abdullah II before flying to Ramallah to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
The final leg of his two-day trip will see him hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefaced talks about a French-led peace initiative on Sunday by saying foreign powers were trying to dictate to Israel a deal with the Palestinians.
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French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, on a two-day visit to the Middle East, was due to meet Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank before seeing Netanyahu later in the day.
Fabius is promoting a French-led initiative that would see the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which collapsed in 2014, relaunched through an international support group comprising Arab states, the European Union and U.N. Security Council members.
Netanyahu, in public remarks to his cabinet, said “international proposals they are trying to force upon us” did not take into account Israel’s security needs.
“They are trying to shunt us toward indefensible borders, ignoring what will happen on the other side,” Netanyahu said, a reference to his often-stated argument that militants would take over areas vacated by Israel unless strong security arrangements were negotiated.
He did not mention the French initiative directly but his remarks, hours before he was to host Fabius, were widely interpreted in Israel as strong criticism of Paris’ proposals.
France has so far focused with Arab states on a possible U.N. Security Council resolution that would set negotiating parameters and establish a time period, possibly 18 months, to complete talks.
“The only way to reach agreements is through negotiations between the two sides, and we will firmly reject attempts to force international dictates on us,” Netanyahu said.
In December, the United States voted against a Palestinian-drafted resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state by late 2017.
But earlier this month, U.S. President Barack Obama said the absence of a peace process and conditions raised by Netanyahu on Palestinian statehood would make it hard for the United States to continue to defend Israel at the United Nations.
The Palestinians have sounded circumspect on Paris’ moves.
“We want the decision to include an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, and a timetable for negotiations and implementation,” President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters on Tuesday.
“If the initiative contains what we need, then it will be welcome, and if it does not, then it will not be welcome and there is no need for it.”
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Saturday urged the resumption of Middle East peace talks, while warning that continued Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank damaged chances of a final deal.
“What’s important is that negotiations restart,” Fabius told reporters during a visit to Cairo, where he held what he said were intensive talks with Egyptian officials on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
“We need Israel’s security to be totally assured, that is essential, but at the same time we need the rights of the Palestinians to be recognised because without justice there can be no peace,” Fabius said.
“From this point of view, when settlement building continues, (the prospect of) a two-state solution recedes.”
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been comatose since a major US push for a final deal ended in failure in April 2014.
Israel says the process failed because the Palestinians refused to accept a US framework document outlining the way forward.
But the Palestinians blame the collapse on Israel’s settlement building and the government’s refusal to release veteran prisoners.
The relationship between the two sides remains severely strained, prompting the Palestinians to step up efforts on the international stage to seek their promised state.
Fabius met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry as part of a regional visit aimed at kick-starting the stalled talks.
“For 40 years, we’ve had negotiations but they’ve never been successful, so we need to change the method,” the minister said. “All this must be endorsed by the international community and… by a United Nations resolution.”
The UN has repeatedly called on Israel to halt the construction of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, which it has branded as illegal and a move to erase the prospect of a Palestinian state.
Fabius will head to Amman Sunday for discussions with Jordan’s King Abdullah II before flying to Ramallah to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
The final leg of his two-day trip will see him hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prefaced talks about a French-led peace initiative on Sunday by saying foreign powers were trying to dictate to Israel a deal with the Palestinians.
Related Stories
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, on a two-day visit to the Middle East, was due to meet Palestinian leaders in the occupied West Bank before seeing Netanyahu later in the day.
Fabius is promoting a French-led initiative that would see the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which collapsed in 2014, relaunched through an international support group comprising Arab states, the European Union and U.N. Security Council members.
Netanyahu, in public remarks to his cabinet, said “international proposals they are trying to force upon us” did not take into account Israel’s security needs.
“They are trying to shunt us toward indefensible borders, ignoring what will happen on the other side,” Netanyahu said, a reference to his often-stated argument that militants would take over areas vacated by Israel unless strong security arrangements were negotiated.
He did not mention the French initiative directly but his remarks, hours before he was to host Fabius, were widely interpreted in Israel as strong criticism of Paris’ proposals.
France has so far focused with Arab states on a possible U.N. Security Council resolution that would set negotiating parameters and establish a time period, possibly 18 months, to complete talks.
“The only way to reach agreements is through negotiations between the two sides, and we will firmly reject attempts to force international dictates on us,” Netanyahu said.
In December, the United States voted against a Palestinian-drafted resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state by late 2017.
But earlier this month, U.S. President Barack Obama said the absence of a peace process and conditions raised by Netanyahu on Palestinian statehood would make it hard for the United States to continue to defend Israel at the United Nations.
The Palestinians have sounded circumspect on Paris’ moves.
“We want the decision to include an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, and a timetable for negotiations and implementation,” President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters on Tuesday.
“If the initiative contains what we need, then it will be welcome, and if it does not, then it will not be welcome and there is no need for it.”
