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Israel rejects French peace bid: report

Xinhua, January 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israel rejected Friday a new peace bid by France to revive the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a report from the Israeli daily Haaretz.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced on Friday that France will try to convene an international conference aiming to "bring about the two-state solution" to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Speaking in Paris at a conference of French diplomats, Fabius said that if the efforts to kick-start the negotiations reached a deadlock, Paris would recognize a Palestinian state.

Israel reacted quickly, rejecting the offer. "This (French) statement is an incentive for the Palestinians to bring about a dead end," a senior official in Jerusalem told the Haaretz newspaper.

"The French foreign minister says up front that if his initiative reaches a dead end, France will recognize a Palestinian state," the official said, adding that "Negotiations cannot be held nor peace achieved in this manner."

The initiative came after the United Nations General-Secretary Ban Ki-moon told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that Israel's "provocative" expansion of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank raised questions about its commitment to a two-state solution.

The last round of peace talks collapsed in April 2014, and a deadly wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence broke out about four months ago. At least 155 Palestinians, 25 Israelis, and a U.S. citizen have been killed since mid-September.

The Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, lands that Israel seized in the 1967 Mideast War. Israel later annexed East Jerusalem, claiming it as part of its capital, in a move never recognized by the international community. It kept its control over the West Bank and Gaza despite repetitive condemnation by the international community. Enditem