France is back-pedaling from a decision to submit a resolution to the United Nations Security Council forcing Israel to renew negotiations with the Palestinian Authority.
PA foreign minister Fiyad al-Maliki told Voice of Palestine radio on Tuesday that France was instead advancing a suggestion to form a negotiations support committee.
The move follows a visit to Israel in early June, during which French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius urged the resumption of final status talks between Israel and the PA.
Netanyahu warned in remarks prior to his meeting with Fabius that the international community’s ideas for peace with the Palestinian Authority ignore the security needs of Israel.
Fabius subsequently discussed the issue in depth with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, President Reuven Rivlin, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and a host of other top government officials.
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas had already rejected out of hand the most recent French proposal for a resolution in the UN Security Council giving both sides 18 months to reach an agreement. The reason: Under the French resolution, the PA would be required to recognize Israel as a “Jewish” state.
“I can say that the idea of the French draft resolution in the Security Council is not a main topic for decision makers in France anymore,” Maliki said, after a meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius in Cairo.
However, said Maliki, a negotiations support committee would only make sense if talks are under way. The committee would be comprised of representatives from the members of the UN Security Council, in addition to Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, he added.
U.S.-brokered talks between Israel and the PA collapsed in April 2014 with the decision by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to instead form a unity government with Gaza’s ruling Hamas terror organization, whose charter calls for the annihilation of the State of Israel.
