BICOM

The office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the French government that he is ready to meet Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas “anytime and anywhere.”

France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met Israel’s Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, who also heads Israel’s negotiating efforts with the PA, during a visit to Paris last week. Fabius asked Shalom whether Netanyahu would be prepared to meet Abbas. According to Haaretz, Shalom replied “I think he would be happy to come.”

Fabius pushed the idea forward and formally approached both Netanyahu and Abbas. According to the Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu’s office has said he will meet Abbas “anytime and anywhere,” in the belief that such a meeting could “change the atmosphere and calm things down” following a month of violence which has seen twelve Israelis killed. However, Fabius has yet to receive a reply from Abbas.

Netanyahu has repeatedly emphasised that he is prepared to restart talks with Abbas at any point. Two weeks ago, Netanyahu told a foreign press briefing that, “I’d be open to meeting with Arab leaders and the Palestinian leadership,” but that Abbas is “not willing to meet me.” He also offered to meet with Abbas without preconditions during his address to the United Nations General Assembly last month.

The French initiative comes as European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini addressed the European Parliament yesterday and called on Netanyahu and Abbas to demonstrate their commitment to the two-state solution and show that it is not “just an empty slogan.” Mogherini met with both Netanyahu and Abbas last week and said yesterday that she hopes to bring Quartet (US, EU, UN and Russia) representatives to the region to establish trust-building steps.

Meanwhile, Haaretz says that it has seen a draft resolution to be submitted by New Zealand to the United Nations Security Council, which will encourage Israel to freeze settlement construction and the PA to desist from taking action at the International Criminal Court, as a prelude to resuming negotiations.