Israel has formally notified France that it will not participate in a peace conference later this year that Paris had hoped might rejuvenate moribund talks with Palestinians over a two-state solution.
Rejecting the initiative, Israel cited the talks as a distraction from the goal of direct negotiations with the Palestinians – despite the fact there have been no such negotiations since the collapse of the US-mediated peace process in 2014.
Israel had long indicated it had no intention of participating in the conference. The formal rejection was delivered at a meeting in Jerusalem with the French envoy Pierre Vimont.
“[They] told the French envoy in a clear and unequivocal manner that Israel’s position to promote the peace process and reach an agreement will only come through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority,” said a statement from the office of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Israel is certain and expects that France will not advance a conference or process contradicting the state of Israel’s official position,” it added.
There was no immediate comment from Vimont but the French foreign ministry said it still planned to hold the conference before the end of the year.
The rejection comes amid parallel fears in Israel that Barack Obama may lend support to a UN security council resolution on the Middle East peace process in his last months in office. The US president has made no secret of his frustration with the lack of a peace process.
France has repeatedly tried to breathe new life into the peace process this year, holding a preliminary conference in June where the UN, EU, US and leading Arab countries gathered to discuss proposals without the Israelis or Palestinians present.
The plan was to hold a follow-up conference before the end of the year with the Israelis and Palestinians involved and to see whether the two sides could be brought back to negotiations.
The last, US-backed talks ended in failure in April 2014. The Palestinians have said they will attend the Paris conference if it goes ahead. Israel says an international conference will also give the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, a platform on which to grandstand, rather than engaging directly with the Israelis.
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