Emmanuel Macron will receive Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, two weeks after receiving the new Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, the Elysee announced.
During a working lunch at the Elysee, the French president will discuss with his counterpart “the possible ways for a resumption of negotiations with a view to achieving a just and lasting peace” in the Middle East, the presidency said.
They will also address “the food crisis caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine”, which affects “with particular force the countries of the Middle East”, he added.
“Mobilize the international community”
The two leaders spoke by phone on June 4, with President Macron expressing “concern” about the “deteriorating situation” in the Palestinian territories, as the peace process has stalled since 2014.
On the occasion of Yaïr Lapid’s visit, he stated that “there was no alternative to resuming the political dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.” And he had expressed “his availability to contribute to the resumption” of the peace process, even “to mobilize the international community in his favor.”
But senior Israeli officials had immediately indicated that they were not in favor of the timing of a relaunch of the peace process.
Mahmoud Abbas, who has recently increased his travels after a two-year hiatus linked to the covid-19 pandemic, met on July 15 in Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, with US President Joe Biden. The latter reiterated his support for the “two-state solution,” a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel, but without giving impetus to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Source: BFM TV
