Paris meet revives peace hopes

Paris : Around 70 countries and international organisations will make a new push for a two-state solution in the Middle East at a conference tomorrow, just days before Donald Trump takes office vowing unstinting support for Israel. The Paris meeting aims to revive the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process, amid fears of fresh violence if Trump implements a pledge to recognise the contested city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

But neither Israel nor the Palestinians will be represented in Paris, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed it as a “rigged” conference, insisting that only bilateral talks can bring peace.

On his farewell tour, US Secretary of State John Kerry will join foreign ministers from around 40 countries and representatives from the UN, EU, Arab League and other organisations in calling for a two-state deal. The meeting is expected to back a UN resolution last month condemning Israeli settlement building in occupied Palestinian territory.

The UN Security Council adopted the resolution after the Obama administration -- in a parting shot at Netanyahu -- took the rare step of abstaining from the vote.

Netanyahu called the resolution “shameful” and has also lashed out at the Paris meeting. On Thursday he called the gathering “a rigged conference, rigged by the Palestinians with French auspices to adopt additional anti-Israel stances”.

“This pushes peace backwards,” he said, calling it “a last gasp of the past”.The Palestinians, who are trying to rally opposition to a contentious promise by Trump to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, have lauded the multilateral initiative. “The bilaterals have not ended occupation even though we have been engaged in talks for 26 years,” said a senior  Palestinian official.