Netanyahu referred to the upcoming Paris summit on implementing a two-state solution as a ‘rigged conference’ during a meeting with visiting Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the prospects of peace between Israel and the Palestinians is being hindered both by terrorist attacks like the one committed on Sunday, killing 4 young IDF soldiers and wounding 15 others, and the upcoming summit in Paris that will focus on implementing a two-state solution.
“We’re all faced here with a great challenge against the forces of terrorism that not only seek to destroy Israel, but seek of course to render any possibility of peace totally hopeless,” Netanyahu said during a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende.
“There are other such efforts that render peace hopeless, and one of them is the Paris conference,” Netanyahu continued. “It’s a rigged conference, rigged by the Palestinians with French auspices to adopt additional anti-Israel stances.”
For his part, the Norwegian foreign minister committed to ensuring that there would be a”nuanced outcome” to the conference.
A draft of the summary text for the Paris conference indicates an intention on the part of the participants to set guidelines on the Israeli government (and the Palestinian Authority) that will include a requirement to disavow democratically elected ministers who oppose the two-state solution.
Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely held a briefing on Wednesday night with the foreign press in which she completely dismissed the Paris conference’s potential of contributing anything meaningful at all towards peace.
“(The Paris conference) is like a wedding with neither bride nor groom,” she said, referencing the absence of any role for Israel and the Palestinian Authority in contributing to its outcome.
“Peace will be achieved between the sides only through direct talks and not by external coercion,” she stated.
By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News