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Netanyahu Meets Macron to Test French Stance on Palestinian-Israeli Conflict | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (AFP)


Paris – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to hold talks on Sunday with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, marking the first time the two officials meet.

The meeting will be an opportunity for the Israeli to PM to test the role that Paris is seeking to play in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

French expert on the Palestinian cause Jean-Paul Chagnollaud said that “France’s stance is still somewhat vague on the matter.”

After hosting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the Elysee Palace earlier this month, Macron had voiced his support for the two-state solution.

He had also condemned Israeli settlements.

These stances are traditional of the French foreign policy and therefore they did not reveal whether Paris is seeking to revive the French initiative that was made by former President Francois Hollande.

The proposal calls for an international effort to resolve the conflict. He had organized in January 2017 an international conference on the Middle East, which had angered Israel at the time.

Chagnollaud said: “Netanyahu is a fierce politician and he wants to make sure that France will not meddle any more than that.”

He remarked that Hollande and his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy sought to build good ties with the Israeli premier, “but they quickly failed.”

Palestinian-Israeli negotiations had come to a halt in 2014 and they have not been resumed since.