Roundup: Palestinians welcome French call for int'l peace meeting, Israel rejects

The Palestinians on Saturday welcomed the French initiative of holding an international peace conference to resolve the ongoing violence with Israelis, though Israel criticized and considered refuting it in advance.

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of Palestine Liberation Organization said "We strongly welcome the French initiative" which shows "Paris understanding that the current Israeli government is a government of settlers and damages the option of the two-state solution."

He urged the international community to cooperate in holding an international peace conference in accordance to the international law.

Erekat urged for a specific time schedule to end Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and establish an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as the capital.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced 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, which was welcomed by the Palestinian presidency.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced last Tuesday that the Palestinian leadership was coordinating with France to convene an international peace conference with Israel, with the support of Arab states.

The French initiative came after UN Secretary-General 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.

Analysts, however, eye three major obstacles faced by the French initiative.

"The first is the weak Palestinian position due to the internal division that started with Hamas movement in 2007," said Hamada Fara'na, a political analyst from the West Bank.

"The second is the confused situation in the Arab world and the current conflicts and wars in the region, and the third is the international community's involvement in the world's economic crisis and fighting terrorism."

The three major factors would make Israel and its project of expansion in the Palestinian territories very much comfortable, Hamada said.

Israel has criticized the French initiative, saying it represents a motive to the Palestinians to reject the peace negotiations.

Israel Public Radio said it will be so difficult by this way to hold a negotiation process and consequently, "peace cannot be achieved." It added that the United States has also expressed reservation towards the French declaration.

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, 2015.

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 internationally. It kept control over the West Bank and Gaza despite repeated condemnation by the international community. Endit