Israel will not participate in an international conference aimed at settling its conflict with the Palestinians, top advisers of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the French government’s special envoy to the Middle East peace process.
The envoy, Pierre Vimont, is in the region to discuss the plan for a conference to be held in December with officials from Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He met Monday with Israel’s acting national security adviser, Yakov Nagel, and Netanyahu diplomatic envoy Isaac Molcho in Jerusalem. Vimont presented the Israeli envoys with France’s position on advancing its initiative, including the convening of an international conference by the end of the year.
“Nagel and Molcho clarified the State of Israel’s unequivocal position — that true progress in the peace process and achieving an agreement will come only through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and that any other initiative only pushes the region further away from this process,” according to a statement issued Monday afternoon by the prime minister’s office. The statement said it was “made clear” to Vimont that Israel would not participate in the international conference, which is being convened “contrary to its position.”
Foreign ministers from more than two dozen countries met in Paris at a peace summit in June to discuss the initiative to reboot peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians. Neither Israel nor the Palestinians were invited to attend the summit, which concluded with a statement calling on the two sides to demonstrate “a genuine commitment to the two-state solution in order to rebuild trust.”
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