Paris Peace Process, Who’s Invited?

May 17, 2016

by: Ilse Posselt, Bridges for Peace

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced a special summit with a singular purpose: re-launching the Israel-Palestinian peace process. However, neither Israel nor the Palestinians have been invited to participate in the meeting aimed at mapping out their future.

Ayrault explained that the summit has been called in an attempt to hammer out the parameters for a future international peace conference between Israel and the Palestinians. World powers would thus have the opportunity to forge a common strategy for imminent negotiations without the presence of either Israeli or Palestinian officials.

The prospective peace talks, planned for the second half of this year, will once again be hosted in the French capital. And this time, he acknowledged, both Israel and the Palestinians would be invited.

As early as January 2016, France had announced its intention to convene an international peace conference aimed at breathing new life into the Israeli–Palestinian peace talks. The declaration came with a thinly veiled ultimatum to Jerusalem: if the peace efforts came to naught, Paris would recognize a Palestinian state.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to hit back at the French “threat,” saying it constituted “an incentive to the Palestinians to come along and not compromise…It says, ‘We shall hold an international conference but, if it doesn’t succeed, we are deciding in advance what the consequence will be—we shall recognize a Palestinian state.’”

Ayrault was clear regarding France’s definition of a successful agreement. “There is no other solution to the conflict than a two-state solution, Israelis and Palestinians living side by side in peace and security with Jerusalem a shared capital…The two sides are more divided than ever,” he conceded. “I’m not naive, but am acting in good faith. There is no alternative.”

According to Ayrault, discussions at the May summit will be based on the 2002 Saudi Arabia peace initiative. The initiative demanded the Jewish state withdraw to pre-1967 borders, divide Jerusalem and welcome an influx of “Palestinian refugees.” In exchange, Israel would receive the promise of normalization of ties with Arab countries.

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN warned that there are no shortcuts to peace. “The only path to moving negotiations forward begins with denouncing terrorism and stopping incitement, and ends with direct negotiations between the sides.”

 

Photo Credit: Anton Watman, Bridges for Peace