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A “solution to the conflict” between the Israelis and Palestinians will be put to the UN Security Council, French President Francois Hollande said yesterday after meeting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Paris. |
“We will have a resolution, to be presented to the Security Council, that will say very clearly what we expect from the (peace) process and what the solution to the conflict must be,” Hollande told reporters in a joint news conference with Abbas.
The French president said that stop-start negotiations had gone on “too long” and “there is a perception that there will never be a solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, even though we know the outlines” of a possible deal.
The most recent armed confrontation, which in July and August killed 2,140 Palestinians—most of them civilians—and 73 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers, was “the third time that Gaza has been destroyed”, Hollande said.
“What we must look for is a durable peace accord,” he said, adding that stalled peace talks “must now reach their end”.
Abbas urged “all countries to assume their responsibilities to end a conflict that has lasted more than 66 years”.
“Making peace will give added legitimacy to the fight against terrorism in the region,” he added.
Abbas, who is trying to build support ahead of a new Palestinian diplomatic push within the United Nations, said that France could give impetus to an Arab League-backed plan calling for an end to Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the formation of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders.
After France, he is to go on to New York to participate in the annual UN General Assembly starting on September 24.
The Palestinians, who have already won observer state status in the world body, are threatening to join the International Criminal Court, which could open the way to them urging the prosecution of Israeli officials for “war crimes”.
