Jerusalem – In a strong message to Israel and the incoming Trump administration, dozens of countries are expected this weekend to reiterate their opposition to Israeli settlements and call for the establishment of a Palestinian state as “the only way” to ensure peace in the region.
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France is hosting more than 70 countries on Sunday at a Mideast peace summit, in what will be a final chance for the Obama administration to lay out its positions for the region.
According to a draft statement obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, the conference will urge Israel and the Palestinians “to officially restate their commitment to the two-state solution.”
It also will affirm that the international community “will not recognize” changes to Israel’s pre-1967 lines without agreement by both sides.
The draft says that participants will affirm “that a negotiated solution with two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, is the only way to achieve enduring peace.”
Israel has settled some 600,000 of its citizens in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — occupied territories claimed by the Palestinians for a future independent state. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war.
The summit comes on the heels of a U.N. Security Council resolution last month that condemned the settlements as illegal. The resolution passed 14-0 after the United States declined to use its traditional veto power and instead abstained.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who is attending Sunday’s summit as one of his last international appearances in official capacity, said in a farewell speech last month that Israel’s continued settlement growth threatens the possibility of a two-state solution. He also criticized Palestinian attacks on civilians and incitement to violence.
On Sunday, a Palestinian truck driver rammed his vehicle into a crowd of Israeli soldiers at a popular Jerusalem tourist spot, killing four people and wounding 17 others in the deadliest single attack of more than a year of violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a return to the 1967 lines, and many members of his nationalist coalition oppose Palestinian independence and support expanded settlements.
Netanyahu has rejected the U.N. resolution and accuses the Obama administration of conspiring behind Israel’s back. Israel has refused to participate in the French conference, which Netanyahu on Thursday claimed was “rigged” against his country.
The Palestinians, who also are not invited to this weekend’s conference, have welcomed the French initiative. In recent years, they have campaigned for the international community to assume a greater role in resolving the conflict.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to visit France in the coming weeks to follow up on the conference.
Netanyahu rejects international attempts to “impose” a solution and says peace can only be reached through direction negotiations.
On Thursday, French President Francois Hollande said the conference aims at ensuring the support of the international community for the two-state solution as a reference for future direct negotiations.
“I cannot accept the status quo, letting people think that the conflict would resolve itself. It is not true. That is why France took the initiative of a conference on Middle East,” Hollande said. “The objective is to reaffirm the support of the international community to the two-state solution and ensure that this solution remains the reference. But I see that has weakened, on the ground and in the minds (of the people). If we let it decay, it would be a risk for the security of Israel.”
French diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media about the event, said the timing of the conference — days before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration — is intentional and meant to present him with a collective international push for peace once he takes office.
Trump not yet laid out a clear policy for the region, but has signaled he will be more sympathetic to Israel’s hard-line right than previous administrations. While indicating an eagerness to broker a peace agreement, his election platform did not mention a Palestinian state.
Trump has appointed David Friedman, a Jewish-American lawyer with close ties to the settlement movement, as his ambassador to Israel. Trump also has vowed to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a step the Palestinians strongly oppose.
In their confirmation hearings, Trump’s Cabinet picks have voiced mixed messages. His nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said a two-state solution is “the dream that everyone is in pursuit of,” but he also questioned its feasibility.
The world will push at the weakest link in the chain. As long as Israel let’s itself be pushed around by the US or EU, they will continue to exert pressure at Israel to give consessions. But as soon as Israel stands firm and it becomes clear that external pressure has no effect then the pressure will be put on the Arabs.
So, when the embassy is moved to Jerusalem, when more and more apartments are built in East Jerusalem and the west bank, when it becomes obvious that the longer it takes for the Arabs to come to the table the less they have to negotiate with, the sooner peace will come to the region.
This is not a peace built on love, but peace built on reality.
That is the first step. The second step may be hundreds of years away. Moshiach will have to bring it. Meanwhile, let’s get on with the first step!
I can see no solution but a two-state solution. A one-state solution means the end of the Jewish state in time. At the moment, most Israelis do not see any reason to accept the pain of giving up anything for a two-state solution. At the moment, the future just holds more of the same.
2-state idea is dead, get real, world !
There is no democratic future for a Jewish Israel…and therefore no future at all…unless their is a political separation of Israelis and Palestinians.
Many of you here sound like 19th century colonials, thinking that we can live in perpetuity with a “Greater Israel,” where a growing majority of people live forever in political subjugation to Jewish Israelis.
Without resorting to any sort moral arguments…it simply won’t be allowed to continue. Most of Europe learned that the easy way 50 years ago…the South Africans learned it the hard way 25 years ago…as will the Likud, settlers and the right wing, if Israel doesn’t unravel this mess on its own.
Anything else is either wishful thinking bravado, or improper reliance on a predicted miracle.
The world will push at the weakest link in the chain. As long as Israel let’s itself be pushed around by the US or EU, they will continue to exert pressure at Israel to give consessions. But as soon as Israel stands firm and it becomes clear that external pressure has no effect then the pressure will be put on the Arabs.
So, when the embassy is moved to Jerusalem, when more and more apartments are built in East Jerusalem and the west bank, when it becomes obvious that the longer it takes for the Arabs to come to the table the less they have to negotiate with, the sooner peace will come to the region.
This is not a peace built on love, but peace built on reality.
That is the first step. The second step may be hundreds of years away. Moshiach will have to bring it. Meanwhile, let’s get on with the first step!
they are right Israel needs a 2 state solution in order to achieve some sort of peace and for their sake of survival
having so many arab citizens harms israel in order to take away their citizenship they have to create a 2 state solution
With HaShem’s help, Histadlus wise, the only solution is a three State deal. Egypt takes over Gaza, Israel and Jordan oversee the administration of the parts of the West Bank that have not been annexed into Israel. The whole deal guaranteed by the USA and Russia and behind the scenes by the Saudis and the Emirates.
Yes, Two States are the Best Solution..Jews have Israel..Palis. Have Jordan…
How can those arabs have a state ,when they have no history of statehood. Those arabs belong to families and tribes that fight with each other constantly.When they got Gaza empty of jews they started a war among themselves and against israel. They have been living on charity since day one and never built any infrastructure that is needed for a country and their leaders have become extremely wealthy from illegal ways while the average people have little.