BICOM

Israel’s Prime Minister has repeated Israel’s position that peace with the Palestinians can only come through direct talks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the comments as senior diplomats are expected to gather in Paris in advance of talks over France’s multi-lateral peace initiative. They will apparently meet today in order to set tomorrow’s agenda and agree the text of a closing statement.

Although US Secretary of State John Kerry will attend tomorrow’s gathering, Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond will send an alternative UK representative. His German and Russian counterparts are expected to also send junior replacements.

Ahead of the Paris gathering, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated the consistent Israeli position that only direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians can bring about peace. Netanyahu has repeatedly expressed his willingness to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at any point without preconditions.

Netanyahu said: “The path to peace is not via international conferences that attempt to force a settlement.”

He warned that such an approach would “make the Palestinian demands more extreme and in the process distance peace.”

He added: “The path to peace is via direct negotiations and without preconditions between the parties. That’s how it was in the past when we achieved peace with Egypt and also with Jordan.”

Earlier this year, France’s former-Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced his country’s intention to host an international conference with the goal of agreeing the implementation of a two-state solution. An initial preparatory meeting of ministers from interested countries, but excluding Israeli and Palestinian representatives, will take place in Paris tomorrow.

Netanyahu has recently backed a call by Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to push for an agreement between Israel and the PA within a regional context. Earlier this week, Netanyahu said “we are willing to negotiate” on the basis of the Arab peace initiative, a Saudi-spearheaded plan, which would see a pan-Arab rapprochement with Israel, in return for the establishment of a Palestinian state.