Of course it’s useless. How can third parties negotiate an agreement between two warring parties when those warring parties are not even at the table? Total nonsense. Obama’s foolish decision to abstain from the U.N. condemnation of Israel only hardened the positions of Israel and the Palestinians.
PARIS (CNN) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has labeled an international peace conference in Paris aimed at solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “useless.”
The conference, which is being attended by some 70 countries, started Sunday morning to discuss how to bring both sides to the negotiating table and maintain support for a two-state solution. The conference is expected to last one day.
Neither Israel nor the Palestinian government are represented at the conference, and Netanyahu told his cabinet meeting Sunday that the talks were “among the last twitches of yesterday’s world.”
“It is being coordinated between the French and the Palestinians,” he said.
“Its goal is to try and force terms on Israel that conflict with our national needs. Of course it pushes peace further away because it hardens the Palestinian positions and it also pushes them away from direct negotiations without preconditions.
“I must say that this conference is among the last twitches of yesterday’s world. Tomorrow’s world will be different — and it is very near,” said Netanyahu seemingly referencing the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in five days.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the conference at the opening of the Palestinian embassy in the Vatican on Saturday.
“We praise the role of President (Francois) Hollande and the French government in organizing this international conference, and we call upon the participants to take concrete measures in order to implement international law and UN resolutions,” Abbas said.
HT: Scott