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Kuwaiti FM: Paris conf. should focus on "final settlement" for Mideast conflict

Israel-Palestinian conflict: Summit warns against unilateral actions




World leaders - including US Secretary of State John Kerry, third left, and French President Francois Hollande, centre - in Paris ahead of the talks

Israel-Palestinian conflict: Summit warns against unilateral actions

Representatives of nations at a conference aimed at kick-starting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have warned that neither side should take unilateral actions.

In a statement, delegates at the summit in Paris also restated their commitment to the two-state solution.

But they shied away from criticising President-elect Donald Trump's suggested US embassy move to Jerusalem.

Palestinians welcomed the conference, but Israel called it "rigged".

Neither side was invited to participate in the day-long summit, which was attended by 70 nations, but they were were invited to hear the conclusions.

This led the UK government to question how effective the conference, which it decided to attend in "an observer status", could be in solving the conflict.

A Foreign Office statement said it had "particular reservations" about a conference "intended to advance peace between the parties that does not involve them", adding that it had not signed up to the joint communique.

It also expressed concern about the timing of the event - just days before Mr Trump takes over as US president - and the opposition of Israel.

The summit ended with delegates warning that neither side should take unilateral steps that could jeopardise future negotiations.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said his team insisted on language in the communique which condemned Palestinian attacks on Israel, making it more "balanced".

He had spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reassure him that any proposal following on from the conference at the UN Security Council would be opposed by the US, Mr Kerry added.

Israel had been concerned that the conference might set the terms for a final agreement and seek to get it adopted at the UN, a move it feels would undermine future negotiations.

The conference comes at a time of rising tension in the region, and there are fears President-elect Trump's plans to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem could stoke it further.

There was deep alarm among participants at the conference that if President Trump does break with decades of US policy and move the embassy to Jerusalem, then conditions will be set for another upsurge in violence in the region, says the BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive and complex issues of the entire conflict. The Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state but Israel proclaim the entire city as its capital.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told France 3 TV on Sunday he thought Mr Trump would not be able to make the move, but if he did, it would have "extremely serious consequences".

On Saturday, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas warned such a move could "bury the hopes for a two-state solution".

The last round of direct peace talks collapsed amid acrimony in April 2014.

Conference 'rigged'

The meeting also comes at a time of tension between Israel and the international community after the UN passed a resolution last month denouncing Israel's settlement activity on occupied land.

Israel accused the Obama administration of engineering the motion, but the White House denied colluding to get it passed.

Mr Netanyahu has called the Paris meeting "a rigged conference" which Israel would not be bound by.

The conference was attended by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as key European and Arab states.

In his speech to open the meeting, French President Francois Hollande said the international community had to be reminded of its obligations to build peace.

"The naivety is to believe that the much-needed reconciliation between Israel and its neighbours can go forward without peace between the Israelis and Palestinians," he said.

"And the cynicism is to sink into the status quo, hoping the situation would find a natural solution as a result of all excesses."

A "two-state solution" of a Palestinian country alongside Israel has long been endorsed by both sides but there are sharply divergent visions as to the type of state which should emerge.

Israel rejects international involvement in the peace process, saying an agreement can only come through direct talks.

Despite years of on-off peace talks, major differences still separate the two sides.

Palestinians fiercely object to Israeli settlement activity in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territory it wants for a future state.

The settlements, home to about 600,000 Israelis, are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

Israel says Palestinian incitement and violence, and a refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state, are key obstacles to peace.

  W460 

Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah with participants of the International Conference For Peace in the Middle East

Paris conf. should focus on "final settlement" for Mideast conflict - Kuwaiti FM

15/01/2017

PARIS-- Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah said that the international conference for peace, Paris is hosting on Sunday, should focus on an end for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The conference should concentrate on reaching a "final settlement" for the conflict and not only continuing to manage it, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled told the meeting which opened earlier today by the French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

This can be realized through incentives to the Israelis and the Palestinians to resume the peace negotiations, creating the favorable conditions and climate for interaction and economic, educational and vocational cooperation, he said.

"This is likely to lay down bases for peace and dismiss all forms of extremism and violence," he added.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled called for setting a time limit for completing the negotiations, as well as the immediate implementation of any agreement to be concluded, for reaching a two-state solution based on the relevant UN resolutions, mainly the UN General Assembly's No 1994, and the UNSC's 242, 338, 1397, 1515, 1850 and 2334, in addition to the Arab Peace Initiative, paving the way for establishing a Palestinian State on the pre-June 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem a capital.

In order to achieve these goals, the concerned world's bodies - especially the Middle East Quartet, the UNSC's Permanent Members and the international bodies - have to play an effective role for supporting and implementing them, the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister noted.

He expressed hope that the Quartet would include Arab members to make it more vital and effective.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled expressed deep concern over reports that the new US Administration would move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the "Occupied Jerusalem," a matter that is most likely to undermine the opportunities for peace, contradicting with the UNSC resolutions, especially No 478 that reads: "Those States that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions from the Holy City." At the onset of the address, the Kuwaiti chief diplomat said that the world's public opinion, especially in the Arab region, is closely following the conference and the regional and international momentum it could produce to resume the stalled peace process.

Thus, participants in the Paris meeting, should seek by all means that the event would lead to the activation of the outcome of previous conferences and initiatives that sought a solution to the Palestinian cause, such as Madrid 1991, Oslo 1993 and Camp David 2000, besides the several resolutions by the UN's General Assembly and the UNSC on the major issue, he said.

The results of not applying the UN resolution, and the non-commitment to what have been concluded in the relevant international conferences have "aggravated the humanitarian tragedies of the unarmed Palestinian people, and heightened tension in the region, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled stressed.

Moreover, this has been reflected on the international peace and stability, as the region started to see the emergence of further crises, such as extremism and terrorism that cannot be dissolved unless the root of the problem, namely the Palestinian issue, is settled, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister noted.

Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said that this year marks the 69th anniversary of the Palestinians' Nakba, sufferings and pain, and the 50th of the occupation of Arab territories in 1967. He also highly appreciated the precious peace initiative offered by the French President Francois Hollande to save the Mideast peace process, recalling France's stances in support of the Palestinian cause on the international levels.

The Paris conference is bringing together more than 70 participants, nations and international organizations, in an attempt to bolster the "Two-State Solution" and provide incentives to both belligerents to resume negotiations that have broken down for six years.


 














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