Mogherini Urges Israel to Accept France's Middle East Peace Plan

Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, urged Israel to seize the opportunity of France's political plan to restart peace negotiations with the Palestinians. According to reports, Mogherini made this request on Thursday, June 23, during a meeting with Reuven Rivlin, the President of Israel, in Brussels. On the same day, she also attended Mahmoud Abbas's speech at the European Parliament. France recently held a conference in Paris to resume the stalled Israeli-Palestinian negotiations; Israel did not attend, and France did not invite a Palestinian delegation. Netanyahu's government described this French political initiative as 'raising Palestinian expectations' and rejected it. Reuven Rivlin stated in a speech at the European Parliament on Wednesday that Israel sees the French political plan as having 'multiple flaws' because 'international conferences only push peace further away.' According to Rivlin, 'direct dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians will realize the two-state solution.' However, Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, emphasized support for the French political initiative in his speech at the European Parliament, stating that François Hollande promised him to continue peace efforts. Abbas added that 'the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands has driven our people to rebellion, and the radical actions of recent months are another indication of the decades-long frustration of the Palestinians.' Abbas cited recent statements from Ehud Barak, Moshe Ya'alon, and Isaac Herzog, three Israeli figures opposed to Netanyahu, who also confirmed that 'the fascist behavior of the current Israeli government has increased.' Abbas accused the Israeli army of committing 'street executions' of Palestinian youths and engaging in 'unprecedented massacres.' He noted that Israel has killed 'thousands of Palestinians' in three wars over the past six years. The Palestinian leader referred to the recent case of Israeli soldiers attacking Palestinians, mentioning that Mahmoud Raafat Badran, a 15-year-old Palestinian, was killed by Israeli soldiers while in a moving family car. The Israeli army admitted that they 'mistakenly' killed the teenager, asserting he had no connection to throwing stones or Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles. Thousands of Palestinians attended the teenager's funeral in Ramallah on Wednesday. Under a new law passed in Israel, stone-throwing by Palestinians is classified as 'terrorist activity,' and stone-throwers are labeled as 'terrorists.' According to Israeli media, Martin Schulz, the President of the European Parliament, attempted to encourage Abbas and Rivlin to meet during their simultaneous presence at the European Union headquarters in Brussels. The Israeli President's office reported that Abbas rejected Schulz's mediation for a meeting with Rivlin. According to the Israeli Prime Minister's office, Benjamin Netanyahu accused Abbas on Thursday night of revealing his true nature with his 'slanderous speech against Israel in the European Parliament.' Meanwhile, a political advisor to Donald Trump, a potential Republican candidate for the upcoming U.S. presidential election, stated that he has been Trump's advisor and lawyer for 15 years and knows that Trump supports annexing parts of the West Bank to Israel. David Friedman, Trump's Jewish advisor, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that if Trump becomes president, he is likely to support Israel's actions in annexing parts of the West Bank. According to Haaretz's Friday edition, Friedman claimed that 'no one knows how many Palestinians live in this area.' Approximately 1.8 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation for 49 years. Since the 1967 war, Israel has built dozens of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and settled around half a million Jews there.