Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has labeled an international peace conference in Paris aimed at solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as "useless". The conference, which is being attended by some 70 countries, started Sunday morning to discuss how to bring both sides to the negotiating table and maintain support for a two-state solution.

Start the conversation, or Read more at WHBF-TV Rock Island. </s> Of course it’s useless. How can third parties negotiate an agreement between two warring parties when those warring parties are not even at the table? Total nonsense. Obama’s foolish decision to abstain from the U.N. condemnation of Israel only hardened the positions of Israel and the Palestinians.

PARIS (CNN) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has labeled an international peace conference in Paris aimed at solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as “useless.”

The conference, which is being attended by some 70 countries, started Sunday morning to discuss how to bring both sides to the negotiating table and maintain support for a two-state solution. The conference is expected to last one day.

Neither Israel nor the Palestinian government are represented at the conference, and Netanyahu told his cabinet meeting Sunday that the talks were “among the last twitches of yesterday’s world.”

“It is being coordinated between the French and the Palestinians,” he said.

“Its goal is to try and force terms on Israel that conflict with our national needs. Of course it pushes peace further away because it hardens the Palestinian positions and it also pushes them away from direct negotiations without preconditions.

“I must say that this conference is among the last twitches of yesterday’s world. Tomorrow’s world will be different — and it is very near,” said Netanyahu seemingly referencing the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump in five days.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the conference at the opening of the Palestinian embassy in the Vatican on Saturday.

“We praise the role of President (Francois) Hollande and the French government in organizing this international conference, and we call upon the participants to take concrete measures in order to implement international law and UN resolutions,” Abbas said. </s> PARIS (CNN) — An international peace conference aimed at bringing a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict opened in Paris Sunday.

While it is being attended by some 70 countries, neither Israeli nor Palestinian officials were present, while the incoming administration of the White House was also absent.

The conference, which was welcomed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during his visit to meet Pope Francis at the Holy See on Saturday, was dismissed as “rigged” by Israeli PrIme Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The talks, hosted by France, are aimed at bringing both sides back to some level of negotiations with the last round of talks collapsing in 2014.

Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French foreign minister, told delegates, “there is no time to lose” over a solution.

“It is not the time to stop, the emergency remains,” he said.

“The parties remain very distanced in a relationship of defiance, which is particularly dangerous, and no one is immune to a new explosion of violence.”

The conference comes amid rising tensions between Israeli and Palestinian leaders following December’s passing of a UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlement construction.

The Security Council approved the resolution with 14 votes with the US abstaining.

Israel fears the recommendations of the conference could turn into another Security Council resolution in the Obama administration’s final days in office.

Speaking at his cabinet meeting Sunday, Netanyahu described the event in Paris as a “useless conference.”

“It is being coordinated between the French and the Palestinians,” he said.

“Its goal is to try and force terms on Israel that conflict with our national needs. Of course it pushes peace further away because it hardens the Palestinian positions and it also pushes them away from direct negotiations without preconditions.

“I must say that this conference is among the last twitches of yesterday’s world. Tomorrow’s world will be different — and it is very near.”

Netanyahu’s mention of “tomorrow’s world” could be in reference to President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to relocate the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem — a proposal that has caused consternation within the international community.

Abbas has written to Trump to say an embassy move would have a dire effect on any chances of peace.

He also warned in a recent speech that “any statement or position that disrupts or changes the status of Jerusalem is a red line which we will not accept.” </s> In spite of the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority’s endorsement of a peace conference being held in Paris on Sunday, other Palestinian factions were opposed to the premise of the international summit, and said they were not expecting any diplomatic breakthroughs.

Kayid al-Ghoul, a senior leader in the Gaza Strip for the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) told Ma’an on Sunday that he expected the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to turn to the United States to foil any possible outcome, five days ahead of the inauguration of US President-Elect Donald Trump — a vocal supporter of illegal Israeli settlements.

Al-Ghoul said that the premise of the conference, which is expected to recommend the resumption of peace negotiations toward a two-state solution, meant “bypassing the right of return and self determination” for Palestinians.

Similarly, Daoud Shihab, a senior Islamic Jihad official in Gaza, described the conference as merely another attempt to resume a peace process “that Israel has already killed and buried, while the international community still refuses to admit that Israel is the main source” of the crisis.

He also warned that Netanyahu’s “terrorist government” could react to the outcome of the conference with more demolitions of Palestinian homes and land confiscations in the occupied territory. Last month, Israel responded to a UN resolution condemning illegal settlements by approving new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem.

A Gaza-based leader within the left-wing Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), Talal Abu Tharifa, also warned of a possibility that the conference may create “low standards” regarding Palestinian rights.

He highlighted Israel’s belligerent opposition to any international intervention in the peace process by pointing to how Israel has been outraged over the mere fact the conference was held in the first place.

In his weekly cabinet remarks on Sunday, Netanyahu slammed the Paris conference, calling it “useless.” “I must say that this conference is among the last twitches of yesterday’s world. Tomorrow’s world will be different — and it is very near,” the Israeli prime minister ominously declared.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has welcomed the conference, and told French daily Le Figaro on Saturday that he believed the summit could be be the last chance to implement the two-state solution, saying that “2017 has to be the year the occupation ends, the year of freedom and justice for the Palestinian people.”

However, an increasing number of Palestinians say the prospect of a two-state reality has become dimmer, amid an a growing extremism among Israel’s right-wing government and public, and a surge in illegal Israeli settlement construction that has now obtained the stamp of approval by US President-elect Donald Trump.

A number of Palestinian activists have criticized the two-state solution as unsustainable and unlikely to bring durable peace, proposing instead a binational state with equal rights for Israelis and Palestinians. </s> Paris (CNN) The Mideast peace conference in Paris closed Sunday, calling for Israel and the Palestinians to embrace a two-state solution as the only route to peace, despite Israel's Prime Minister branding the conference "useless."

The conference, which is being attended by representatives from some 70 countries, began Sunday with the aim of bringing both sides to the negotiating table and maintaining support for a two-state solution.

"They emphasized the importance for the parties to restate their commitment to this solution, to take urgent steps in order to reverse the current negative trends on the ground, including continued acts of violence and ongoing settlement activity," the closing statement from the conference read.

Any two-state solution should satisfy both sides, the statement said. That includes recognizing Palestinians' sovereignty and their right to statehood, as well as Israel's security needs, while ending "the occupation that began in 1967" and resolving all "permanent status issues" based on UN Security Council resolutions.

Among the permanent status issues are Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, settlements, security and borders.

Israeli, Palestinian response

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday that the conference was coordinated by the French and the Palestinians and sought to "force terms on Israel that conflict with our national needs."

He seemed to welcome the inauguration of American President-elect Donald Trump later this week, saying, "This conference is among the last twitches of yesterday's world. Tomorrow's world will be different -- and it is very near."

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Israel's Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon also slammed the conference, saying it "is so detached from reality that it has extended a hand towards Palestinian obstructionism instead of towards peace."

Echoing Netanyahu's sentiments on working with Trump, he added, "In the next few weeks we will enter a new era and work with the incoming US administration to undo the damage caused by the Security Council resolution and these other one-sided initiatives."

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the conference at the opening of the Palestinian embassy in the Vatican on Saturday.

"We praise the role of President (Francois) Hollande and the French government in organizing this international conference, and we call upon the participants to take concrete measures in order to implement international law and UN resolutions," Abbas said.

'Emergency'

The talks, hosted by France, were aimed at restarting some level of negotiations after the last round of talks collapsed in 2014.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told delegates that preserving the two-state solution is an "emergency" in the face of threats by "colonization" and continued violence.

"The parties remain very distanced in a relationship of defiance, which is particularly dangerous, and no one is immune to a new explosion of violence."

Speaking as "a friend of Israel," the foreign minister said the country's security was of profound concern, but "there will not be regional peace, solid and durable, as long as the conflict with the Palestinians will not be resolved."

Addressing the timing of the conference, in the final days of President Barack Obama's administration, Ayrault said, "Well, we have demonstrated that the entire world wishes for peace."

On France itself recognizing a Palestinian state, Ayrault said it hadn't really been discussed and that the focus was on bringing the Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table again.

"The position of France, and we have precedent in this, is that there is no future of peace in this region of the world if we do not reaffirm the necessity for two states," he said.

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French President Francois Hollande warned that accepting the "status quo" was not an option for the international community and criticized those who believe holding such a conference is naive.

"It would be naive to consider that bridging the gap between Israel and its neighbors, so necessary, is possible without progressing towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians," he said in a speech.

The conference comes amid rising tensions between Israeli and Palestinian leaders following December's passing of a UN Security Council resolution that condemned Israeli settlement construction.

Israel fears the recommendations of the conference could turn into another Security Council resolution during the Obama administration's final days.

Embassy controversy

Netanyahu has made it clear he's looking forward to working with Trump , who campaigned on a pledge to relocate the US Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a proposal that has caused consternation in the international community.

Arab and European allies have warned the incoming Trump administration that such a move would risk undermining the peace process and lead to further violence in the region.

Ayrault called the proposal a "provocation" and said previous American presidents had put forward this option in the past but ultimately balked.

"The question of Jerusalem," he said, "can only be discussed in the framework of a negotiation between all parties."

He said he looked forward to working with Rex Tillerson, Trump's secretary of state nominee.

Abbas responded to Trump's pledge by writing the leaders of Russia, China, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Arab League and others asking them to stop Trump.

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned such a move could cause "an absolute explosion in the region." Later, Kerry told reporters that it would have been inappropriate to include mention of Trump's proposal in the peace conference's final communique, according to media reports.

Last week, Trump's transition team floated the possibility of initially having the US ambassador to Israel work and live in the US consulate in Jerusalem, while the American Embassy remains in Tel Aviv.

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Abbas has written to Trump to register his concern over how moving the embassy could shatter any chances of peace.

PLO Secretary-General and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat also confirmed that Russia had been urged to prevent any such move from occurring.

"The Palestinian presidential office have sent a message to all foreign ministries asking them to use all tools to prevent Trump's decision to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem. This will put an end to the two-state solution and it crosses all red lines," Erekat told CNN.

Erekat also confirmed the message from Abbas was delivered to President Vladimir Putin "through Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday." </s> An international peace conference involving more than 40 foreign ministers and senior diplomats from 75 countries began in Paris on Sunday morning, aimed at renewing efforts to resolve the decades-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict through the two-state solution.

The Paris conference has been welcomed by the Palestinian Authority, while the Israeli government has boycotted the summit for its exclusion of Palestinian and Israeli officials, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting ‘bilateral negotiations’ were the only viable option for peace talks.

The Israeli prime minister has also referred to the conference as “Palestinian deceitfulness under French auspices, aimed at adopting further anti-Israeli positions.”

However, French President Francois Hollande assured on Thursday that the conference would not aim to replace bilateral negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault opened the conference saying there was no other solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict than the two-state solution. “Today we need to say that there is no solution other than the two-state solution and see how we can contribute to relaunch of peace talks,” reporters quoted him as saying. “The goal is to put an end to this conflict so that this region can live in peace and prosperity.”

He reportedly also thanked US Secretary of State John Kerry for his “tireless efforts to promote the peace process,” after Kerry recently gave a blistering speech condemning Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The summit is being held weeks after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution reaffirming all Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory were illegal under international law.

“UN Resolution 2334 reaffirmed the need for the two-state solution. Now is not the time to stop,” Ayrault reportedly said in his opening remarks.

 The conference is notably taking place days before the inauguration of US President-Elect Donald Trump on Jan. 20, with French diplomats reportedly saying the timing was an intentional move to send a message to Trump about the importance of resolving the conflict.

Palestinian daily al-Ayam meanwhile published what it said was a final draft resolution for the Paris Conference, which reportedly called for an end to Israel’s illegal occupation that began in 1967, and said that states participating in the conference would agree not to recognize any borders that were not reached through direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians — including in Jerusalem. </s> JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned a speech by US Secretary of State John Kerry on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Wednesday (Dec 28) as biased against Israel and more focused on settlements than Palestinian violence.

Speaking from his office following Kerry's speech in Washington, Netanyahu said the outgoing secretary of state paid only "lip service" to Palestinian violence against Israelis.

"What he did was he spent most of his speech blaming Israel for the lack of peace," Netanyahu said.

He added later that "Israelis do not need to be lectured about the importance of peace by foreign leaders".

In an earlier statement from Netanyahu's office, the premier said "like the Security Council resolution that Secretary Kerry advanced in the UN, his speech tonight was skewed against Israel".

"For over an hour, Kerry obsessively dealt with settlements and barely touched upon the root of the conflict - Palestinian opposition to a Jewish state in any boundaries."

Kerry's speech included sharp criticism of Israeli settlement building and came after last week's UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to such activity.

The United States abstained at the Security Council, allowing the resolution to pass 14-0.

The United States and others say continued settlement building is steadily eating away at the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu has accused US President Barack Obama's administration of being behind the resolution, which it denies, and vowed not to abide by it.

Netanyahu said on Wednesday it "reflects a radical shift in US policy towards the Palestinians on final status issues, those issues that we always agreed, the US and Israel, have to be negotiated directly face to face without pre-conditions". </s> France is hosting an international conference aimed at strengthening a global commitment to a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both principal parties are skipping the event, however.

Some 70 nations, including members of the Middle East Quartet (the US, Russia, the EU, and the UN), other permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, Britain, and France), and leading Arab and European nations are attending the all-day conference in the French capital. The event was called last year by France as an initiative to reinvigorate the peace process.

However, neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority will be attending the conference, despite having been invited. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the meeting “futile,” complaining that the Europeans and the Palestinians had “rigged” it against Israeli interests.

The Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, called Israel’s position regrettable. However, despite initial expectations, he didn’t arrive in Paris on Sunday either, with Reuters sources indicating that the decision to cancel his visit had come from the French government. Abbas will reportedly meet with French President Francois Hollande sometime later, possibly in a matter of weeks.

The conference is focusing on three key areas, including helping the Palestinian economy, strengthening its civil society, and assisting in building the future Palestinian state, according to the French Foreign Ministry. The ultimate goal is not to impose a solution on Israel or the PA, but rather help them to reengage in direct negotiations, Paris explained.

“There is no time to waste,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told delegates at the opening ceremony, adding “we are not sheltered from an explosion of violence.”

The conference comes at a moment of increased tensions in the Middle East. Israel was outraged when the US abstained from vetoing a UN Security Council resolution that calls for halting the construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Consecutive right-wing governments under Netanyahu have brushed aside criticisms of the settlement building and continued to take more land from the Palestinians. The PA sees this practice as an obstacle to direct talks.

The passage of the resolution, and a subsequent speech that US Secretary of State John Kerry gave on his vision for a solution of the decades-old crisis, have underscored years of strained relations between Israel and the Obama administration.

President-elect Donald Trump, who is to be sworn in less than a week after the Paris conference, has indicated that his administration will be more supportive of Israeli interests. He has also indicated that he will move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, practically enshrining it as an exclusively Israeli capital. The suggestion has been strongly rejected by the Palestinians.

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The gathering in the French capital is seen by many as a message to Trump not to undermine the proposed two-state solution, which would see Jerusalem as the capital of both states.

A draft communique sent to media outlets ahead of the conference also calls on Israel and the PA to disavow officials in their governments who reject the two-state solution. </s> Paris, France - A French-led effort to kick-start long-stalled discussions on a two-state solution between Palestinians and Israelis got under way with the two main players absent from the summit.

Though representatives from 70 countries and organisations arrived, hopes of a breakthrough in the stagnant peace process were low on Sunday without any representatives from either the Palestinian Authority or Israeli government at the "Conference for Peace in the Middle East" held in France's capital, Paris.

"We are all aware of the need to mobilise to re-start the peace process," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told the delegates.

"I'm fully aware of the reservations surrounding this conference and doubts about whether it should be held at this time. But there is no time to be lost."

READ MORE: Israel and Palestinians squabble over Paris conference

It is the second such meeting organised by the government of President Francois Hollande after a first in June, which was attended by more than 20 nations and groups.

"Mobilisation has constantly grown since the 3rd of June. This has already delivered some significant results," said Ayrault.

"The two-state solution has been forcefully re-submitted. Now is definitely not the time to stop. The parties are very, very far apart, and the goal is to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had balked at attending the conference, saying it "pushes peace backwards".

"It's a rigged conference, rigged by the Palestinians, under French auspices, to adopt additional anti-Israel stances," Netanyahu said on Thursday.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was also absent. He formally opened an embassy of Palestine at the Vatican City on Saturday.

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The one-day Paris conference will focus on economic incentives, efforts by civil society groups, and "capacity building" for a future Palestinian state.

But it was met with widespread scepticism.

"The only interesting thing will be whether Hollande in his speech today brings back the idea of recognising a Palestinian state, but I don't think he will," Alain Gresh, a journalist with Le Monde Diplomatique, told Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera's Natacha Butler, reporting from Paris, said that while hopes for a revitalised peace process were low, the sheer number of participants at the conference on Sunday was noteworthy.

"We are expecting at the end of the day for the 70 countries here to pledge their commitment to a two-state solution, and call on both sides to stop ongoing violence," Butler said.

The conference comes amid a sustained period of bloodshed. Last week, a Palestinian attacker rammed a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers, killing four and wounding more than a dozen in Jerusalem.

The assailant was shot dead by Israeli troops.

Since October 2015, 247 Palestinians, 40 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese national have been killed in a wave of violence, according to an AFP news agency count.

While a rare and recent UN Security Council resolution demanding a halt to Israeli settlement-building in the occupied territories has raised optimism, the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency in the United States has raised concerns about peace prospects.

Trump has nominated a pro-settlement American as his ambassador to Israel and suggested the US embassy could be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in what would be a highly contentious decision.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls the latest peace-conference "useless".