‘If conflict not resolved, ISIS will make Palestinian cause its own’
PARIS – France’s foreign minister heads to the Middle East this weekend with an initiative aimed at bringing Israel and the Palestinians back to peace talks under an international framework amid growing regional instability.
US-led efforts to broker peace for a two-state solution collapsed in April 2014 and leaders on both sides have since been weakened politically. But with the region’s crises worsening, France sees a narrow window to resume negotiations.
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will explore the prospects for talks with Arab League ministers in Cairo on Saturday and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday.
“Everything points to inertia, but we believe that this inertia is deadly,” said a senior French diplomat. “We can no longer isolate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the regional context.”