The French government is planning to hold a conference at foreign minister level in Paris in May aimed at reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Invitations for the meeting are expected to be sent out on Friday to foreign ministers from key states and organizations, but not to Israel or the Palestinian Authority.
In an interview with four newspapers including Israel's 'Haaretz' and Arab daily 'Al Quds Al-Arabi', the France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the aim was to prepare an international summit which would be held in the second half of 2016, which would include the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. "The two sides are further apart than ever," Ayrault said in the interview, adding: "There is no other solution to the conflict than establishing two states, one Israeli and the other Palestinian, living side by side in peace and safety with Jerusalem as a shared capital.
"We cannot do nothing," Ayrault told the newspapers. "We have to act before it's too late." He said the discussions would be based on the 2002 peace initiative, which was rejected by Israel.
Ayrault will visit Israel earlier in May to brief Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on plans for the conference. The initiative was presented earlier this week by French Ambassador to the UN François Delattre at the United Nations Security Council. Delattre said that in view of the “wave of violence with increasing intensity that has persisted for six months and has led to hundreds of deaths and thousands of wounded”, hopes for a solution would recede unless “a credible political horizon to save the two-state solution” emerged.
Netanyahu is reportedly deeply sceptical of the initiative.
