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Israel seeks alternate plan to normalize with Arab states

Xinhua, August 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

A senior Palestinian official said Monday that Israel is seeking to "propose an interception" to the French initiative to hold an international peace conference by trying to normalize with Arab states.

Ahmad Majdalani, member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee, told Xinhua that "Israel rejects the formula of a peace conference to evade international obligations towards the peace process."

It's trying to "present an alternative regional project through normalizing with the Arabs and then withdrawing from the Palestinian territories rather than normalizing after reaching peace, according to an Arab peace initiative," he added.

Majdalani stressed that the Palestinians reject any Israeli proposal for regional negotiations as an alternative to the international conference, saying this means that "it does not want genuine peace or normalisation with the Arabs."

He noted that efforts to hold a ministerial conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings next September are underway.

This meeting is aimed at preparing for the upcoming Paris peace conference, he added.

Meanwhile, Majdalani denied what he called an "Egyptian initiative" to resume peace talks between Palestine and Israel at the moment.

"This was invented by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because he is looking for an alternative to the French initiative," he said.

Paris hosted an international ministerial meeting on June 3, which was attended by the foreign ministers of 25 countries, including four Arab countries, which debated the revival of the stalled peace process between Israel and Palestine.

A final joint statement of the meeting said that participants agreed on providing meaningful incentives to the parties to make peace."

The direct negotiations between the two sides should be based on existing UN. Security Council resolutions, it added.

The peace talks between Israel and Palestine have been stalled since April 2014 after nine months without achieving tangible results. Endit