Netanyahu Derides Paris Peace Talks as ‘Yesterday’s World’

Many Christians see a deep historical connection between the Old City (Church of the Holy Sepulchre) and Israel.

Neither Israel nor the Palestinians were represented at the conference, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “futile”.

“We will also urge Palestinians and Israelis alike to get back to the negotiating table, so that they can bring about the peace that is so urgently needed”. We did what was necessary to have a balanced resolution.

“We have received information on the latest statement of [US President-elect] Donald Trump in which he said that his administration planned to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem”, Erekat said.

Israel considers the whole of the city as its “eternal, undivided capital”, but East Jerusalem is considered occupied under worldwide law.

The status of the city is one of the thorniest issues in the conflict.

“When you are president of the United States, you can not take such a stubborn and such a unilateral view on this issue”, Ayrault told France24. “You have to create the conditions for peace”, he told France 3 television. “A few days later, John Kerry’s courageous, worthy and profoundly moving speech echoed the disquiet of the worldwide community”.

After the papal meeting, Abbas will open an embassy of his own: The Palestinian embassy to the Holy See, fruit of recent accords in which the Vatican formally recognized the “Palestinian state”. The summit did not include Israel or the Palestinians, although they were invited to come to Paris afterward. Abbas has voiced support for the French initiative and is to meet Hollande in coming weeks to discuss the results.

In a recent Facebook post, conservative Christian leader Gary Bauer provided some advice to United Kingdom leaders who want support from the US: support Israel at the upcoming Paris and UN meetings. No representatives from Israel, the Palestinians or the incoming Trump administration are attending, however.

In his recent speech excoriating Israel for refusing to commit suicide by allowing a sworn enemy to have a state adjoining the Jewish state, Secretary of State John Kerry claimed the US government “did not draft or originate” the United Nations resolution critical of Israeli “settlements”.

The 1½-page statement may be endorsed by European Union foreign ministers on Monday and by the UN Security Council later in the week. The French effort comes against the backdrop of the failure of the Obama administration to bridge the gap between the two sides and the long buried Oslo process.

Sounds positive – except the Israelis and the Palestinians won’t be there. Envoys from Russia, China and other major powers are also among the attendees, according to a French diplomatic source. The French have repeatedly warned that more illegal Israeli settlements would end the chance of a Palestinian state.

He has also suggested moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which could inflame tensions even further-the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. “The resolution symbolically and spiritually supports the Palestinian rights but it does not stop Israel from building settlements”, the professor told Xinhua. Sixty-one percent of those who voted for the national religious Habayit Hayehudi party said they favored the one-state option, as did 59 percent of those who voted for the ultra-Orthodox parties.