Israeli foreign ministry chief: French peace initiative will fail

Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dore Gold said on Thursday that France’s initiative to revive the Israel-Palestinian peace talks is doomed to failure.
Gold’s statement was made during an interview with the press on the eve of the international ministerial meeting in Paris regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, attended by Arab and Western ministers, as well as UN and EU representatives, in an effort to revive the stalled peace process.
“The only way to get a stable regional arrangement that will allow us to create real peace in the Middle East is if the parties of the region come to understandings between them,” Gold said.
He added: “We believe the Arab states would give backing to direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Therefore we prefer a Middle Eastern process and not a process that somebody is trying to create in Paris.”