BICOM

Egypt’s President yesterday reiterated his determination to lead progress towards peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Yesterday, speaking live on Egyptian television, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi addressed “Egypt’s recent serious effort,” which “aims to break the deadlock that has hung over peace efforts”. He said: “It is a sincere effort to make everyone face their responsibilities and warn of the consequences of delays in achieving peace.”

Also yesterday, PA President Mahmoud Abbas met France’s President Francois Hollande in Paris. France has been promoting its own initiative to restart Israel-Palestinian peace talks under a multi-lateral framework. Hollande underlined France’s commitment to building on the momentum created. He said: “France will spare no effort to mobilize the international community into reviving the peace process.”

In June, France hosted a planning meeting for senior officials from 28 countries, but did not include Israeli or Palestinian leaders.

In May, al-Sisi made a surprising public plea for Israel and the Palestinians to renew peace talks in the context of brokering a wider regional peace, under which an overall rapprochement between Israel and Arab states would likely take place in return for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately endorsed al-Sisi’s initiative. Earlier this month, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry became the first senior Egyptian minister to visit Israel in nine years, meeting with Netanyahu, who reiterated his support for al-Sisi’s initiative.

Israeli leaders have consistently opposed the France initiative though, saying that only direct talks can lead to peace and that a multi-lateral framework allows the Palestinians to continue to avoid such a scenario. Yesterday, the Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Dore Gold told the Times of Israel that the French plan would “undermine the whole peace process”.  Having not been invited to the initial meeting, Gold said: “I doubt we’ll be there for the second one because we have been very clear about our problems with this whole French scheme.”