France Officially Presents Its Middle East Peace Plan to Tel Aviv

The French government, disregarding the Israeli Prime Minister's reaction to Paris's plan for resuming the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, officially presented its proposal through its ambassador in Tel Aviv to the Israeli Foreign Ministry. According to Israeli media reports, Patrick Maisonneuve, the French ambassador, stated during a meeting with Israeli Foreign Ministry officials that the proposed peace conference could be held in June or July (Tir 1395). Laurent Fabius, who was the French Foreign Minister until two weeks ago, announced the country's plan to hold a peace conference shortly before resigning from this position. At that time, Mr. Fabius declared that France, in collaboration with global actors and Arab countries, would hold a peace conference, and ultimately, if the conference fails, an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders would be recognized by the French government. The French Foreign Ministry has reported that Jean-Marc Ayrault, the new Foreign Minister, will pursue this three-phase plan through the European Union, and French ambassadors in several key countries will inform their governments about the plan. France's action of sending an ambassador to Tel Aviv to officially communicate the peace plan to the Israeli Foreign Ministry comes at a time when just a day before, the Israeli Prime Minister expressed his strong opposition to this initiative, describing it as 'misleading' and 'strange.' According to the Associated Press, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, predicted on Tuesday, February 27, during a visit to Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, that the French plan 'will fail.' Mr. Netanyahu argued that France's threat to recognize an independent Palestinian state if the peace conference fails would prevent the Palestinians from showing any 'flexibility.' Earlier, Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, stated on Monday, February 26, that the Palestinians welcome the French plan but do not want negotiations that are merely fruitless and prolonged. During a four-day official visit to Tokyo, following a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Mahmoud Abbas said that the goal of negotiations should be to 'end the Israeli occupation.' The President of the Palestinian Authority has recommended establishing a framework similar to the successful Iran nuclear negotiations for resuming the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Meanwhile, in the absence of a vision for the peace process, relations between Israel and the Palestinians have entered a new phase of violence, resulting in the deaths of 31 Israelis and 185 Palestinians so far. The Israeli security organization reported this week that 80% of the perpetrators of street attacks in the past five months, particularly knife attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians, have been Palestinian youths and teenagers. Palestinians also reported this week that 49 of the fatalities in the past five months were children under 18 years old. Palestinians have perceived the rapid response of Israeli soldiers in killing the attackers as 'executions.'