News Analysis: Israel's rejection of French initiative causes stalemate in peace process

Israel's rejection of a French initiative to break the impasse between Israel and the Palestinians will cause stalemate in the peace process, according to analysts.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently announced that Israel rejected a French initiative for holding a peace conference later this year, and stressed that the only solution is to resume bilateral talks with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu's office said in an statement that Israel is willing to start unconditioned direct negotiations with the Palestinians. Any other initiative would take the Palestinians away from the negotiation table, it said.

Israel's announcement came ahead of a summit of foreign ministers on May 30 in Paris where participants are expected to hammer out a "political horizon" to bring the two sides together later in the summer. Both Israel and the Palestinians were not invited to the Paris summit.

The Palestinian leadership slammed the Israeli move, saying in a statement that it was "a rejection to the peace process."

Palestinian leadership insisted that it supports the French initiative and will keep seeking to join international agencies and treaties in order to restore the national rights of the Palestinians.

George Jackman, chairman of the Ramallah-based Institution for Democratic Studies, told Xinhua that the Israeli attitude toward the French initiative "comes from the Israeli strict position that rejects any international sponsorship to the peace process and the negotiations with the Palestinians."

"Israel opposes the intervention of any country except the United States in the peace process because Israel wants to avoid any pressures that push it to make more concessions to the Palestinians," said Jackman, who warned that the Israeli rejection may foil the initiative that can end the current political vacuum.

The French initiative was announced against the background of a growing tension between Israel and the Palestinians since last October. The conflict had so far left more than 200 Palestinians and 34 Israelis dead.

The last direct peace negotiations between the two sides stopped in April 2014 after they was sponsored by the U.S. for nine months. The talks led to no tangible results due to differences on major issues like settlement, security, borders and the recognition of a Palestinian state.

Hani al-Masri, a Ramallah-based political analyst, ruled out that the French initiative would basically succeed in solving the decade-long Palestinian crisis even if Israel changes its position due to international pressure.

He went on saying that the major goal of the French initiative is an attempt to keep the current situation, a Palestinian autonomous authority, and prevent it from deteriorating into a major Israeli-Palestinian confrontation.

In spite of the Israeli rejection and the slim hope for its success, Palestinian leadership keeps counting on Europe that is more active to revive the peace process, according to Samih Shbaib, a Ramallah-based political analyst.

"The Europeans are fully convinced that without resolving the conflict in the Middle East, the entire region will keep boiling and violence will grow and threaten peace and security," Shbaib told Xinhua, adding that by counting on European countries, the Palestinians expect international community to seriously contribute to finding a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Endit