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French ambassador: UN resolution on settlements was ‘balanced’

The French Ambassador to Israel said that the now-postponed anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution was “balanced” and in line with France’s views.

A proposed UN Security Council resolution on Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria that was scheduled to be voted on Thursday afternoon falls very much in line with France’s views, according to French Ambassador to Israel, Hélène Le Gal.

“I read the resolution myself, and I haven’t seen anything contrary to our position,” she told reporters earlier on Thursday. “What’s in this text is very close to what we’ve been saying publicly.”

Ambassador Helene Le Gal insisted that “the text (of the resolution) is balanced” in light of what she says was an equally levelled condemnation of Israeli construction in Judea and Samaria versus Palestinian terror and violence against Israel.

“The text says that settlements are an obstacle to peace, but it also condemns violence,” the ambassador noted.

The resolution calls for a “freeze by Israel of all settlement activity, including ‘natural growth’ and the dismantlement of all settlement outposts erected since March 2001” as well as for the “Palestinian Authority Security Forces to maintain effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantling terrorist capabilities, including the confiscation of illegal weapons.”

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Le Gal also touched on France’s efforts to craft a two-state arrangement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority at a summit in Paris that was postponed until next month.

“We want to continue the mobilization of the international community on behalf of the two-state solution,” Le Gal said.

Le Gal stressed that France has no intentions of assuming a mediation role.

“We’re not proposing to be mediators,” she added. “It is up to the parties to find an agreement. The idea of our conference is to see what the international community can do to support this process.”

Nevertheless, France sponsored an international conference in Paris this past June on implementing a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. France did not invite Israel or the Palestinian Authority.  

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News