France laying groundwork to recognize ‘Palestine’

Indications the French do not intend to bring a Middle East peace resolution to the UN Security Council in the coming months were strengthened Tuesday after Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met his Palestinian Authority counterpart and made no mention of the resolution in a statement after the meeting.

 

Following a meeting in Paris between Fabius and PA Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki, the French Foreign Ministry issued a statement that indicated Paris was beginning to set the groundwork for future French recognition of “Palestine.”

 

“The meeting,” according to the statement “also provided an opportunity to prepare for the first French-Palestinian intergovernmental seminar, the first session of which will be aimed at strengthening our relations in the political, economic and cultural spheres.”

 

One senior Western diplomatic official told The Jerusalem Post recently that the French backtracked from their UN proposal after facing objections from both Israel, who objected to the idea of imposing a solution form the outside, and the Palestinians, because they were unhappy that the resolution did not give them everything they wanted.

 

Read More: France laying groundwork to recognize ‘Palestine’ – Arab-Israeli Conflict – Jerusalem Post