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France, Palestinians mull proposal for peace conference

Xinhua, March 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Reyad El-Malki said Wednesday that his French Counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault will visit West Bank to discuss French proposal to host an international peace conference.

El-Malki told the Palestinian Public Radio that Ayrault's visit will discuss the latest updates by the French government, following the tour taken by its special envoy Pierre Vimont which included several European states and the United States.

El-Malki said that the Palestinian leadership has been in touch with the French government constantly in order to hold a successful peace conference, based on the ideas put forwards by Vimont. He added that he will be meeting with officials of the European Union (EU).

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

Those statements antagonized Israeli officials with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it is "counterproductive."

The peace talks between Israel and Palestine have been stalled since April 2014. The U.S. sponsored talks that lasted for nine months achieved no tangible results. Endit