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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Jordan, Egypt, EU Urge New Israel-Palestinian Talks

Palestinian women shout slogans during a protest in Gaza City. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

The foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, France and Germany Thursday urged Israel and the Palestinians to engage in "credible dialogue" to restore "hope" to the peace process.

"Ending the stalemate in peace talks, the creation of political horizons and the restoration of hope through credible dialogue must be a priority," they said in a statement.

Talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been frozen since 2014, and a US peace plan announced in January has been welcomed by Israel and rejected outright by the Palestinians as biased.

After Thursday's meeting, the ministers stressed "the urgency of the resumption of serious, meaningful and effective negotiations on the basis of international law and agreed parameters directly between the parties or under the UN umbrella."

"We call upon the parties to commit to past agreements and to resume credible dialogue on this basis," they said.

The meeting was also attended by the EU's envoy for the peace process.

The ministers also met Jordan's King Abdullah II, who reiterated a long-held position that ending the conflict required "a two-state solution with an independent (and) viable Palestinian state" based on pre-1967 borders, with Occupied East Jerusalem as the Palestinians' capital.

The UAE and Bahrain signed accords normalizing ties with Israel at a September 15 ceremony hosted by US President Donald Trump.

The suspension of Israel’s planned annexation of Palestinian lands in the West Bank should become permanent, the ministers said Thursday, stressing the "importance" of the UAE and Bahrain deals with Israel.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned of the dangers of "a political stalemate in the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.”

"There has to be progress towards a comprehensive and just peace," AFP quoted him as saying.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Israel and the Palestinians “must quickly resume dialogue.”

"In the immediate term, we must rebuild confidence to allow the relaunching of the negotiation process, which is in the interest of both parties,” he told journalists.

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