Occupied Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a multilateral French peace initiative as he met his French counterpart on Monday, offering instead to hold direct talks with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Paris.
Valls is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories to advance his country’s plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Abbas has welcomed the French initiative to hold a meeting of foreign ministers from a range of countries on June 3, without the Israelis and Palestinians present.
Another conference would then be held in the autumn, with the Israelis and Palestinians in attendance. The goal is to eventually restart negotiations that would lead to a Palestinian state.
Palestinians leaders say years of negotiations with Israel have not ended its occupation and have pursued a strategy of diplomacy at international bodies.
Netanyahu has always criticised the French initiative and critics say the Israeli prime minister is simply dragging the issue to buy more time to build colonies.
Negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.
In an interview with Palestinian newspaper Al Ayyam published on Sunday, Valls called himself a “friend of Israel” but said that Israeli colony expansion in the occupied West Bank must stop.
He also reiterated that his government would not automatically recognise a Palestinian state if the peace initiative failed.
A threat to do so was made in January by former foreign minister Laurent Fabius, angering the Israeli government, which argued that it removed any incentive for the Palestinians to negotiate in good faith. His successor Jean-Marc Ayrault has since backed away from the statement.
“The objective is to arrive at the creation of a Palestinian state,” Valls said in the interview.
“It is to allow your national aspirations to finally be realised. To say today when we will recognise the Palestinian state is to determine in advance the failure of our initiative.”
Valls said “we must also guarantee” Israel’s security, but called for a halt to colony building, considered a major stumbling block to peace.
Colonies in the Israeli-occupied West Bank are illegal under international law and built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state.
“Stopping settlements [colonies] is an imperative,” he said. “Because we cannot both want to discuss peace and be sincere in the negotiations and at the same time continue to create facts on the ground.”
