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French envoy visits Israel to sell peace summit proposal

Xinhua, March 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli officials met on Monday with a French envoy over initiative proposed by Paris to host an international peace summit to restart talks between the parties in the summer, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Pierre Vimont, a high-level French diplomat who is in charge of the "preparation of the international conference to renew the Middle East process," met on Tuesday with the Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

Emanuel Nachshon, the ministry spokesperson, said in a statement that Israel is interested in "direct negotiations" with the Palestinians, adding that Israel wishes to "understand the logic" of the French initiative.

"Israel emphasized, on its part, the importance of direct and bilateral negotiations without prior conditions," Nachshon said in the statement.

Vimont also met with Palestinian officials on Tuesday, among others with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat.

The idea of holding an international peace summit in Paris was initially presented in January by former French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. Fabius said that if the summit would not materialize, France would nonetheless acknowledge an independent Palestinian state.

That statement antagonized Israeli officials, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it is "counterproductive," as it would deny any incentive for the Palestinians to take an active part in direct talks with Israel.

However, Israeli officials did say they would look into the framework, and held talks in the past month, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

Last week, the new French Foreign Minister Jean March Ayrault clarified that France would not "automatically" acknowledge a Palestinian state if the conference would not take place, apparently toning down the previous message.

On a related matter, also last week, Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, a hawkish member of Netanyahu's Likud party, told Israel Radio that "negotiations with the Palestinians are currently not on the government's agenda."

The push to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians comes amid an ongoing wave of violence that started in October, killing 28 Israelis and more than 175 Palestinians.

While Israeli leaders blame the Palestinians for incitement to violence, the Palestinians charge the unrest is the result of 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, where they wish to establish a Palestinian state.

The last round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians ended on April 2014 with no results. Endit