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France won’t ‘automatically’ recognize Palestinian state if peace talks fail

March 10, 2016 at 9:48 am

France will not “automatically” recognise a Palestinian state if a Paris-hosted international conference fails to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Wednesday.

Ayrault has stepped away from assertions made by his predecessor, the former French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who said in January that Paris would “automatically” recognize a Palestinian state if peace talks failed, sparking an angry reaction from Israel.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time that by promising to recognize a Palestinian state, it was providing “an incentive for the Palestinians to come and not compromise”.

“There is never anything automatic. France will present its initiative to its partners. It will be the first step, there is no prerequisite,” Ayrault said when asked at a press conference in Cairo about Fabius’s remarks.

“What we want, that’s our commitment, is to re- launch a political process of negotiation, to revive a peace process and that’s our priority. So we’ll do everything to create a favourable climate to revive the process,” he added.