French envoy holds Israel-Palestine peace talks in Cairo

A senior French envoy held talks in Egypt on Thursday on his country’s bid to organise an international conference later this year to revive the moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process, media sources say.

The envoy Pierre Vimont met Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry for talks on future steps he will take to prepare for the conference, a foreign ministry statement said.

Negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014, reports Middle East Online.

The media outlet further reports that earlier this month, representatives from 28 Arab and Western countries, the Arab League, European Union and the United Nations met in Paris to discuss ways in which the international community could help advance the Palestinian-Israel peace process.

Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives were invited to attend the meeting, which aimed to lay the ground for a fully-fledged peace conference to be held by the end of the year.

Israeli prime minister Benyamin Netanyahu previously pointed at the possibility of discussing the Arab initiative for peace that was introduced in 2002 and includes diplomatic recognition of Israel by Arab countries in return for establishing a Palestinian state, according to Egyptian media.

Press Agencies