JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that the French initiative to hold an international peace conference is “baffling” and bound for failure, casting doubt on the first push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians in nearly two years.
France has for months been preparing to hold a conference that would bring together the two parties and their American, European and Arab partners in order to revive the peace process. France has warned that if its peace efforts fail, it will recognize a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu said this threat “ensures that the conference will fail, because if the Palestinians know their claim will be accepted in Europe … they will not do anything.”
The Palestinians welcomed the proposal, but the conference does not seem to be generating much enthusiasm from Israel or the international community, which is struggling to cope with far deadlier Middle East conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
