France eyes two-year deadline for ME peace
France's foreign minister yesterday urged a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within two years, as French MPs debated a symbolic motion to recognise Palestine as a state.
Laurent Fabius said the United Nations Security Council was working on a resolution to relaunch and conclude talks. "A deadline of two years is the one most often mentioned and the French government can agree with this figure," he told MPs.
The Palestinians are planning to formally submit to the UN Security Council a draft resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territory in 2016.
Fabius also said France was prepared to host international talks to drive the peace bid forward.
"If these efforts fail; If this last attempt at a negotiated settlement does not work, then France will have to do its duty and recognise the state of Palestine without delay and we are ready to do that," stressed Fabius, without fixing a deadline for such a recognition.
Paris has frequently said France would recognise a Palestinian state "when the time comes", arguing that a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict logically implies recognition of Palestine.
The minister's comments came as French lawmakers debated the non-binding motion urging the government to recognise Palestine as a state, amid growing European frustration at the moribund Middle East peace process.
The motion is expected to pass comfortably on December 2 when the lower house of parliament votes on the text proposed by the ruling Socialists.
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