French leader urges Israelis, Palestinians to make concessions for peace
French President François Hollande has paid a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories and urged both sides to make concessions to secure a peace deal. Hollande called on Israel to stop all settlement building in the West Bank and on the Palestinians to show flexibility on the issue of the so-called “right of return” of refugees.
Hollande met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Monday after having met with Israel’s President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Netanyahu on Sunday. He reiterated the French policy that Israeli construction in the West Bank should be frozen because the settlements were an obstacle to peace. “France opposes the settlements,” the president told a press conference after the meeting with Abbas. “Construction in the settlements must be stopped because it will make it more difficult to achieve a two-state solution and get the two sides back to the negotiating table. When I speak of the initiatives that the two sides must present, I spoke with President Abbas and told him to reach understandings on this issue [the refugees]. This was the focus of part of our discussion.”
Hollande also alluded to a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines with agreed-upon exchanges of territories and Jerusalem as the joint capital of both states. He described Netanyahu’s decision to freeze Housing Minister Uri Ariel’s plan for more than 20,000 homes in the territories as encouraging. Abbas meanwhile reaffirmed the Palestinian Authority's commitment to the peace talks. The PA, he said, would continue to engage in negotiations with Israel until the end of the agreed-upon nine-month period, in accordance to its commitment to US Secretary of State John Kerry.
Hollande warns Iran
At a press conference after a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Hollande said that as long as Iran did not prove it has taken serious steps toward curbing its nuclear program, sanctions against Tehran would not be relieved. “Words are not deeds. We are against proliferation, and in Iran there is a will to enrich uranium to weapons-grade level,” Hollande said.
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