PM blasts Paris summit: Peace cannot be coerced - Shlomo Cesana and Mati Tuchfeld

by Shlomo Cesana and Mati Tuchfeld

PM Benjamin Netanyahu: "The path to peace does not pass though international committees that are trying to coerce an agreement, radicalize Palestinian demands and in doing so, distance peace. The path to peace passes through direct negotiations."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his French counterpart, Manuel Valls, in Jerusalem last month | Photo credit: GettyImages

Ahead of the French peace summit meant to address the stalemate in talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Wednesday that peace cannot be coerced and that the conference may actually harm future prospects for peace. 

"If the countries gathering this week in Paris really want to advance peace, they must join my call to [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] to enter into direct negotiations," Netanyahu said Wednesday at the graduation ceremony of Bar-Ilan University's faculty of medicine in Safed. 

"That is the only path to peace -- there is no other," he said. "The path to peace does not pass though international committees that are trying to coerce an agreement, radicalize Palestinian demands and in doing so, distance peace." 

The prime minister insisted that Israel will continue to seek peace, even with the help of other regional players. 

"The path to peace passes through direct negotiations between the two sides, without preconditions," he said. "That is how it was in the past when we made peace with Egypt and with Jordan, and that is how it must be with the Palestinians. We will not stop looking for paths to peace."

The foreign ministers of the United States, Russia and 28 European Union countries will be meeting in Paris over the weekend. However, representatives from neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority will be present. 

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls visited Jerusalem and Ramallah last month and spoke to Netanyahu and Abbas about the initiative. While Abbas, Egypt and the rest of the Arab world support the initiative, Netanyahu opposes it, preferring direct negotiations. 

The French have explained that the initiative is meant to put pressure on Israel and the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table. According to them, the lack of trust and gaps between the sides prevent Netanyahu and Abbas from sitting together without external brokering. The objective of the conference is to ultimately jumpstart direct negotiations. 

While Paris prepares for Friday's international summit, there are plans for a regional summit in Jerusalem that would include representatives from moderate Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan. As newly appointed Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman assumed his post this week, Netanyahu stressed that the government was committed to achieving peace with the Palestinians and cited the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative as the basis for a possible solution. 

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon also commented on the issue Wednesday, saying: "Rumors and talk of a dramatic diplomatic development in our region are based on far more than just hints in the newspaper. This is not the time or place to go into detail, but we are currently facing a rare opportunity to generate a significant shift on a regional level.

"Holding a regional conference, in which all those interested in the region are represented, would be an important framework, both advisable and worthwhile. The Kulanu party and I will support and push it forward as much as possible. A conference like this would change the rules of the game, develop new horizons for diplomatic progress and allow for a thaw of relations between our neighbors and ourselves." 

Kahlon said he maintains "close relationships with the senior ministers in Ramallah. We are making great efforts to strengthen the Palestinian economy. Past experience teaches us that seeds planted in the economic arena eventually reach the diplomatic and security arenas."

He then called on the Zionist Union to join the coalition, saying, "Don't miss this historic window of opportunity. You cannot manage a peace process or effect change from the opposition."

A statement from Opposition Leader Issac Herzog's office said, "Herzog already told Kahlon what he had to say on Monday, loud and clear," and then called on Kulanu to quit the coalition.

Shlomo Cesana and Mati Tuchfeld

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=34077

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