Palestinian Official: Peace Process Conference to be Held Next Month
Kifah Ziboun Asharq Al Awsat 21 November 2016
http://english.aawsat.com/2016/11/article55362565/palestinian-official-peace-process-conference-held-next-month

Ramallah – French authorities have informed the Palestinian leadership of
their determination to hold the International Meeting on the Peace Process
in Paris in the second half of December, a Palestinian official told Asharq
Al-Awsat newspaper on Sunday.

Wassel Abu Youssef, member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s
executive committee, said French officials have stressed that the peace
conference will be held regardless of the position of Israel and the United
States.

Youssef denied reports that France has decided not to hold the conference,
stressing that the European country’s “credibility was at stake”.

“Many people might be uncertain [about the holding of the peace conference]
in the wake of Israel’s stance and the victory of Donald Trump in the United
States; but honestly, France’s credibility is at stake,” he told Asharq
Al-Awsat.

Arab and Israeli media outlets have quoted western diplomatic sources as
saying that Paris has decided to cancel the international meeting, which was
expected to be held in late December, due to Israel’s rejection to it.

Those reports were made following statements by French President Francois
Hollande, in which he said that the chance of holding the Paris Peace
Conference has diminished in the wake of the results of presidential
elections in the United States.

Youssef said that the Palestinian Authority has not received any official
notice on the cancellation of the conference, adding that diplomatic and
logistic arrangements were still ongoing.

“Israel’s position is not important to Palestinians,” the PLO official said,
adding that French envoy Pierre Vimont has informed Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas that the conference will take place between December 20 and
25, regardless of Israel’s rejection to it.

The French-led effort is one of several that have been proposed by the
international community to make peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Arab nations in 2002 offered to normalize relations with Israel in exchange
for Israel withdrawing from the occupied territories and providing a “just”
settlement for Palestinian refugees.