France offers new plan for Middle East peace

JERUSALEM – French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met with Israeli and Palestinian officials in Jerusalem and the West Bank Sunday to explain a possible proposal to the United Nations to restart peace negotiations.

France is reportedly drafting a resolution that would set an 18-month deadline for Israelis and Palestinians to agree on a two-state solution. It would call for recognition of Palestinian statehood if the talks do not bear fruit.

Israel rejects the proposal as an external dictate to impose a solution that does not meet its security needs. At the beginning of a meeting with Fabius in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said peace would come only from direct negotiations with no conditions. “It will not come from U.N. resolutions that are sought to be imposed from the outside,” he said.

Netanyahu described what he called the “twin foundations” of an agreement over a demilitarized Palestinian state: Palestinian recognition of Israel as the national homeland of the Jews and “ironclad security arrangements.” He also said the Palestinian leadership has systematically run from negotiations with Israel.

“I think there is no magic shortcut,” Netanyahu said, adding that peace requires a sustained effort. “I am ready for such an effort.”

In an earlier meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Fabius said his visit aimed to “bring together all the threads once again, and return to negotiations,” with concern for Israel’s safety. Rivlin expressed concern that the Palestinians were trying to “transfer the conflict to the U.N.”

Fabius, however, said there was no interest in proposing resolutions to the Security Council if they were “bound to fail or be vetoed,” and called for a general agreement.

An effort by Fabius’ U.S. counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry, to broker Mideast peace talks collapsed last year.

Fabius also met Sunday with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and later had a joint press conference with his Palestinian counterpart, Foreign Minister Riyad Malki.

Explaining that he came to present the French ideas to both sides, Fabius expressed understanding of both sides’ needs.

“We want to give security to Israel and at the same time give the Palestinians their right to establish their independent state,” he said.