France to revive plans for Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts

France is to take steps to organise an international conference to “bring about the two-state solution” to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “In the coming weeks, France will take... steps in order to organise an international conference gathering each of the parties' principle partners – principally Americans, Europeans and Arabs – in order to preserve and to bring about the two-state solution," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in remarks to diplomats.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said France will take steps for reviving Israeli-Palestine peace efforts.

France has raised the idea of hosting an international conference to revive peace efforts which would bring in all the key players in a show of support for a final settlement of the decades-long conflict. But the idea has never taken concrete shape.

“We must not allow the two-state solution to fall apart,” he said, noting that there had been no halt to Israel's settlement activity on land the Palestinians want for a future state.

Fabius added that if the efforts to breathe life into the moribund peace process fail, France would move to unilaterally recognise Palestine as a state.

“And what will happen if this last-ditch attempt at reaching a negotiated solution hits a stumbling block?” he said.

“In that case, we will have to live up to our responsibilities and recognise a Palestinian state.”

Peace talks collapsed in April 2014 and since then, the situation has deteriorated, with the prospects of fresh dialogue appearing more remote than ever.

A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks which began on October 1 has killed 25 Israelis, while over the same period, 159 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks although others died in clashes and demonstrations.

In November 2014, the French parliament backed a motion urging the government to recognise Palestine as a state as a way of achieving a "definitive resolution of the conflict" in a move which Paris has said could happen if the peace process remained in the doldrums.

France has also pushed for a UN resolution that would guide negotiations leading to an independent Palestinian state and which could include a timeframe for talks.

- with AFP