France says it is pushing Netanyahu, Abbas to meet for Paris talks

PARIS — France is trying to convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris this month to try to revive moribund peace talks between the two sides, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Wednesday.

Israel had already formally rejected Paris’ invitation to take part in a Middle East peace conference before Christmas, saying it was a distraction from the goal of direct negotiations with the Palestinians.

However, Paris remains determined to stage the conference. It believes that bringing the two leaders to meet with President Francois Hollande a day after the conference would be a way of circumventing Israeli accusations that the French initiative aims to impose a multilateral solution.

“We have to recreate the conditions for a two-state solution and we are determined more than ever to do everything to implement our initiative. The sooner the better,” Ayrault told reporters at a news conference with his Spanish counterpart, Alfonso Dastis.

Ayrault confirmed that invitations had been sent to Netanyahu and Abbas to attend a face-to-face meeting. Diplomats said that at this stage Israel had not responded, but that President Hollande would call Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama to discuss the issue.

A spokesman for Netanyahu declined to comment, although Israeli newspaper Haaretz cited officials saying Israel had rejected the offer. Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said they welcomed “any French effort to salvage the faltering political process.”

 France has repeatedly tried to breathe new life into the peace process this year, holding a preliminary conference in June where the United Nations, European Union, United States and major Arab countries gathered to discuss proposals without the Israelis or Palestinians present.

The plan was to hold a follow-up conference before yearend with the Israelis and Palestinians involved and see whether the two sides could be brought back to negotiations. The last, US-backed talks ended in failure in April 2014 and the outgoing US administration appears unwilling to tackle the issue before President-elect Donald Trump takes over in January.

With Obama wary of being seen picking a fight at a time when he hopes to persuade Trump to preserve parts of his legacy, including the Iran nuclear deal, Obamacare and the opening to Cuba, it is not clear whether the United States will attend a new meeting in Paris.

If they were not to attend, the chances of a conference taking place would be slim, a French diplomat said.