A message of Mideast peace for Trump

Envoys from some 70 countries called on Israel and the Palestinians to recommit to the peace process, but they also sought to send a message to President-elect Donald Trump that the international community wants to keep hope alive for a two-state solution.

PARIS — In a diplomatic gambit that at times sounded as though the clock was about to run out, envoys from some 70 countries Sunday called on Israel and the Palestinians to recommit to the goal of two states for two peoples, before the possibility slips away.

But there was someone else they hoped to persuade, too: President-elect Donald Trump.

A statement they issued was intended to send a message from the world powers, including Europe and the Arab states, to the incoming Trump administration that the international community wants to keep hope alive for a twostate solution to the conflict in the Holy Land.

The diplomats gathered in Paris, including Secretary of State John Kerry, warned that continued acts of violence and the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank must stop. Their joint statement aspires to establish a foundation for peace talks in the hope that they might resume sometime in the future.

Though Trump was not mentioned by name, there was concern in Paris that the new administration, which will occupy the White House in five days, will be so pro-Israel that its policies could threaten the idea of two states living side by side in peace and security, with Jerusalem as their shared capital.

The joint communique incorporated references to previous blueprints for peace talks, including last month’s U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank and incitement and terrorism that Palestinians have been accused of fomenting. It also commended Kerry’s speech two weeks ago laying out principles for negotiations to resolve the seven-decade-old conflict.

A Western diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations more freely, said that both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were briefed on the language of the communique before it was issued and that neither raised any objections.