Paris Israeli-Palestinian peace conference postponed

French President François Hollande said on Tuesday an international conference planned for late May in Paris to relaunch peace talks between Palestinians and Israelis had been postponed until the summer.

With US efforts to broker a two-state accord in tatters and Washington focused on the November US presidential election, Paris has lobbied countries to hold a conference before then to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault had proposed May 30 for the talks, but US Secretary of State John Kerry is not available on that date, Hollande told Europe 1 radio.

“John Kerry cannot come on May 30. It’s postponed, it will take place, it will take place in the course of the summer,” he said in an interview.

“This initiative is necessary because if nothing happens, if there is no strong French initiative, then colonisation, attacks, terrorist attacks and several conflicts are going to continue,” he added.

Speaking to reporters later Tuesday, Ayrault said the talks are likely to resume at the beginning of June.

“The objective remains the political process. We want (UN Special Envoy) Staffan de Mistura to gather the negotiators as soon as possible and we have fixed ourselves an objective of the start of June if possible,” he said.

• US reluctance

Paris plans to host a ministerial meeting of 20 countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, as a first step to discuss the peace process which has been effectively frozen since a US-brokered initiative collapsed in April 2014.

Israel and the Palestinians have not been invited...
  [france24.com]
17/5/16