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Middle East peace talks to start in Paris Middle East direct talks 'do not work', France insists
(about 9 hours later)
A French-led conference aimed at reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is to begin in Paris later. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has insisted that direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians do not work.
It will bring together officials from the Middle East Quartet, the UN, Arab League and other countries - but Israel and the Palestinians will not participate. He was speaking before a French-led conference aimed at reviving the peace process began in Paris.
Israel has rejected the meeting and called for direct negotiations. Officials from the Middle East Quartet, the UN, Arab League and other countries are attending the discussions.
The last round of talks between Israel and the Palestinians came to an end amid acrimony in April 2014. But Israel and the Palestinians will not participate.
The Palestinians accused Israel of reneging on a deal to free prisoners, while Israel said it would not continue negotiations after the Palestinians decided to bring the Islamist Hamas movement into a unity government. Little optimism
"Currently everything is blocked," Mr Ayrault said ahead of the conference.
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Diplomats say Friday's meeting will bring together all the economic incentives and other guarantees that various countries have offered in previous years to create an agenda for an autumn peace conference. "We don't want to act in the place of the Israelis and Palestinians but we want to help them," he told France Info radio.
French diplomatic sources quoted by AFP news agency said the talks would focus on the 2002 Saudi peace initiative, which offered Arab recognition of Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state in territories occupied by Israel since 1967. The hope is that representatives of about 25 countries and various international organisations will be able to lay foundations for a fully-fledged peace conference at the end of this year.
On Monday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Saudi plan included "positive elements". The consensus among diplomats appears to be that any effort to revive the peace process is better than nothing at all, correspondents say, even though few are optimistic that concrete results will be forthcoming.
However, the managing director of Israel's foreign ministry, Dore Gold, likened the French talks to the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement, which carved up the Middle East between colonial powers, and said only direct talks could resolve the conflict. However senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat in an opinion piece on Friday described France's bid to revive the peace process as bringing "a flicker of hope" for a resolution to the conflict.
"This effort utterly failed then and will completely fail today," he said. "The only way to get a stable regional arrangement that will allow us to create real peace in the Middle East is if the parties of the region come to understandings between them." There have been numerous rounds of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians since the early 1990s, with the most recent collapsing in acrimony April 2014.
On Wednesday Mr Netanyahu called for "direct negotiations without preconditions between the sides". The Palestinians accused Israel of reneging on a deal to free prisoners, while Israel said it would not continue negotiations after the Palestinians decided to bring the Islamist Hamas movement into a unity government.
US Secretary of State John Kerry will attend the talks but Reuters quoted a US official as saying the US did not have any new proposals to put forward. Israel has rejected the latest meeting and called for direct negotiations.
There have been numerous rounds of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians since the early 1990s. Diplomats say Friday's meeting brings together all the economic incentives and other guarantees that various countries have offered in previous years to create an agenda for an autumn peace conference.
French diplomatic sources quoted by AFP said the talks would focus on the 2002 Saudi peace initiative, which offered Arab recognition of Israel in return for the creation of a Palestinian state in territories occupied by Israel since 1967.
On Monday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Saudi plan included "positive elements". He has called for "direct negotiations without preconditions between the sides".
However, the managing director of Israel's foreign ministry, Dore Gold, likened the French talks to the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement, which carved up the Middle East between colonial powers.
US Secretary of State John Kerry is attending the talks but Reuters news agency quoted a US official as saying the US did not have any new proposals to put forward.
Some of the most intractable issues include the status of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Palestinian statehood.Some of the most intractable issues include the status of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and Palestinian statehood.
The Palestinians seek an independent state in the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel, which has occupied East Jerusalem since the 1967 Middle East war, regards the whole of the city as its indivisible capital, though this is not recognised by the international community.
Since 1967, Israel has built more than 100 settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.