OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 22 March 2003 — Israel yesterday said a French-proposed conference to tackle the Middle East crisis was “useless,” while the Palestinian Authority welcomed the idea.
“Israel wants the United States to keep the leading role in coming to a peace settlement and any other initiative is useless in this context,” said a senior official at the foreign ministry who asked not to be named.
The United States is planning to publish an internationally drafted peace roadmap setting out the steps to Palestinian statehood by 2005, but Israel has tried to delay its publication, expressing strong reservations on many of its clauses.
But Palestinian local government minister Saeb Erakat welcomed the proposal.
“We think the French call for an international conference could put and end to Israel’s occupation and help implement the roadmap,” he told AFP.
“We have to establish a program with precise steps” toward Palestinian statehood, he said, demanding the deployment of international observers to monitor the situation, something Israel has consistently refused.
“Enough talk, we have to make sure the position of US President George W. Bush is implemented on the ground,” he said.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on Thursday called for an international peace conference on the Middle East.
“More than ever France’s idea for an international conference on the Middle East is relevant,” the minister said.
