Netanyahu Questions French "Impartiality", Says UNESCO Vote "Scandalous"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he told the French foreign minister that Paris's support of a UNESCO resolution on Al-Quds cast doubt on the impartiality of a peace initiative it is promoting.

"I told him that the scandalous resolution accepted at UNESCO with France's support, that does not recognize the bond of thousands of years between the Jewish people and the Temple Mount, casts a shadow over the impartiality of the entire forum France is trying to convene," Netanyahu told the weekly cabinet meeting after his talks with French FM Jean-Marc Ayrault.

Netanyahu was referring to a resolution adopted last month by the Paris-based UN cultural body on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Al-Quds, which made no reference to  it as a 'sacred site in Judaism.'

Ayrault's visit to Al-Quds  and Ramallah, where he will be meeting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas later in the day, is in preparation for the May 30 international ministerial meeting to try to revive peace talks that have been frozen since a US-brokered initiative collapsed in April 2014.

Israeli and Palestinian representatives were not invited to the French peace meeting, and on Sunday Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to indirect peace attempts, blaming the Palestinians for refusing direct talks. 

"I told him that the only way to advance true peace between us and the Palestinians is through direct talks, without preconditions," he said of his meeting with Ayrault.

"Any other attempt just distances peace and gives Palestinians a means of evading dealing with the root of the conflict, which is not recognizing the State of Israel," he said.

"They're simply avoiding negotiating with us," Netanyahu said of the Palestinians.
[AFP -almanar.com.lb]
 15/5/16
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