France ready to host direct talks between Palestinians, Israel: French PM

Visiting French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Tuesday that his country is willing to host direct talks between Palestinians and Israelis within the framework of an international peace conference.

Valls' statements came in a joint press conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah in Ramallah, in which he said "we support all that would enhance a direct, genuine and constructive dialogue that goes in the right direction."

He added that France is "willing to host any direct bilateral talks backed by the Arab states," pointing that his country will "make use of all possible efforts to resume talks, but within the framework and principles set by the conference."

The top French diplomat said "we already have the support of the Palestinian side for the French initiative (to hold an international peace conference) and therefore, the conference will take place in the coming days to deliberate on the frame under which negotiations would take place."

He stressed the importance of holding direct talks without preconditions, but said that the current talks have reached an impasse, and that the international community should push for the peace process to resume.

An preparatory conference for foreign ministers is expected on June 3 in Paris without Israeli or Palestinian representatives.

Later in the fall, an international peace conference is expected to take place with the attendance of Israeli and Palestinians, with the eventual aim of restarting peace talks between both parties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday rejected the French initiative for an international conference to relaunch Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, but told visiting French Prime Minister that he is willing to meet Abbas in person for peace.

In response, Al-Hamdallah welcomed the French initiative, saying "it comes at a critical timings" for the Palestinians. He also accused Netanyahu of aiming at stalling time, as "the past 22 years of direct bilateral negotiations have not led to any results with Israel."

Al-Hamdallah urged the international community to pressure Netanyahu until the realization of the Palestinian state, hoping to have "international guarantees" for the implementation of any peace deal.

With regards to the reports addressing a three way summit going Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with Abbas and Netanyahu, Al-Hamdallah said "I cannot confirm this, but such talk about a summit like this aims at distracting the attention from the idea of holding the French conference and the French initiative that we highly value."

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