Paris – France Seeking Support For Mideast Plan

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    French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, third from right, meets with Palestinian ambassadot to France  Hael Al Fahoum, left, and Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki, second from left, at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, Tuesday Dec. 16, 2014. France is trying to overcome resistance and rally international support for a draft U.N. plan seeking a two-year deadline for peace talks on Palestinian statehood. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)Paris – France on Tuesday tried to overcome resistance and rally international support for a draft U.N. plan setting a two-year deadline for peace talks on Palestinian statehood.

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    Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met in Paris with the secretary-general of the Arab League, Egyptian and Palestinian ministers, and former Israeli President Shimon Peres.

    Fabius is seeking support for a draft U.N. resolution that the French hope would be a catalyst for peace talks. The French, seeking a higher-profile role in Middle East diplomacy, see their draft as more palatable than a Jordanian-backed resolution also under discussion.

    There’s growing pressure from European legislators to recognize a Palestinian state amid frustration over decades of failed peace efforts. But European countries are divided over the idea of setting a 2016 deadline, with Germany particularly reluctant, diplomats said.

    Peres argued for holding negotiations before imposing any timetable, and said now is not a good time to make any major moves because Israel is facing a political transition after upcoming elections.

    “There is a need and a time for a Palestinian state,” he told reporters in Paris. “I think it would be better to reach it through an agreement than through an imposition.”

    Fabius said “it’s high time” to get peace talks going again.

    He discussed the draft Monday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

    The French know that the Americans are opposed to the draft resolution as it stands, but are hoping to work out a version that the Americans could support, French diplomats said.

    France, facing a rise in anti-Semitism, also has domestic reasons to push for progress. Mideast violence often translates into protests and other unrest in France, home to western Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations.


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    6 Comments
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    Liepa
    Liepa
    9 years ago

    The French have far bigger fish to fry and should refrain from getting themselves involved in stuff far bigger than they can handle and concentrate on how to avoid their Muslim communities becoming a majority and ruling (ruthlessly) over France, including Sharia law, chopping off limbs, beheadings and more.

    ayoyo
    ayoyo
    9 years ago

    The whole mid east has collapsed into chaos and the problem is a palestinian state? how rediculous

    sane
    sane
    9 years ago

    France once again capitulates. First to the Nazis and now to its Moslem minority. Cowards!

    Mendel32
    Mendel32
    9 years ago

    Why not give them Uganda?
    In addition to that, how can you force two fighting siblings to have a time by when they must make peace?

    Sherree
    Sherree
    9 years ago

    Why not Australia???? The Australian population didn’t give a hoot that their neighbors were captives, they had the nerve to take selfies in front of the store!!

    Butterfly
    Butterfly
    9 years ago

    With friends like these, who needs enemies?