Paris summit ends with vague call for international conference by year’s end

Source: Times of Israel

Participants warn time is running out on two-state solution, blame violence and settlement activity, but don’t set timeline for progress

A one-day Israeli-Palestinian peace summit in Paris — to which the Israelis and Palestinians were not invited — concluded Friday with a warning that violence and settlement activity are imperiling a two-state solution, and a call for an international conference on the issue before the end of the year.

“We must act, urgently, to preserve the two-state solution, revive it before it is too late,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said after the meeting.

The closing communique did not set a firm timetable for further efforts, however. And while France portrayed Friday’s meeting as a first step by the international community to weigh different options, the Americans have been chilly towards the talks, although Secretary of State John Kerry attended, and Israel has flatly opposed to French efforts, calling instead on the Palestinians to enter direct peace talks without conditions.

The closing communique was less harsh toward Israel than members of the Arab League had sought, and its general emphasis on the two-state solution represented a compromise in which the United States and the European Union tempered an effort by the Arab League to make a statement that was more critical of Israel’s policies, Western diplomats told Haaretz.

Read more: http://www.timesofisrael.com/eu-foreign-policy-chief-at-paris-summit-status-quo-threatens-oslo-accords/