Israel would consider a French invitation to peace talks with the Palestinians, but believes France has made a mistake by saying it would recognize a Palestinian state if the talks fail, an Israeli government official said on Saturday.
“If and when we get an invitation to a conference, we will examine it and respond to it,” the official, who declined to be named, said in a statement.
French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development Laurent Fabius told foreign diplomats on Friday that if the conference he proposes were to hit a wall, “well ... in this case, we need to face our responsibilities by recognizing the Palestinian state.”
The Israeli official dismissed the idea, saying: “Why would the Palestinians budge on even a comma in a conference if they already know that, without making progress, they will get what they want?”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking to African leaders at a summit in Ethiopia, urged them to back France’s conference plan.
‘UNDER THREAT’
However, two Israeli Cabinet ministers, both allies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel should boycott such a meeting.
“Unequivocally, Israel will not attend a conference under threat,” Israeli Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz told Channel 2 TV, echoing a comment by Israeli Minister of National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Resources Yuval Steinitz to Channel 1.
US-led efforts to broker a “two-state solution” collapsed in 2014, and there has been no serious attempt to revive them.
Fabius has previously called for an international support group comprising Arab states, the EU and UN Security Council members to put pressure on the two sides to compromise. However, Netanyahu has called France’s initiatives “counterproductive.”
TWO-STATE SOLUTION
A US official responded cautiously to Fabius’ statement.
“The US position on this issue has been clear. We continue to believe that the preferred path to resolve this conflict is for the parties to reach an agreement on final status issues directly,” the official said.
Despite anger in the US administration over Israeli settlement building, there is little prospect of US President Barack Obama supporting any initiative that could upset the US Jewish lobby 10 months before an election.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called Israel’s expansion of Jewish settlements in occupied land “provocative” and said that it raises questions about its commitment to a two-state solution.
Palestine has non-member observer status at the UN and its flag flies with those of member states at UN headquarters in New York.
Sweden became the first member of the EU to recognize a Palestinian state in 2014, and several other nations have followed.
Palestinians seek a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, parts of which have been occupied by Israel since 1967.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not