Abbas and Hollande to meet in early February
PA president to thank French leader for Paris peace conference, continue efforts launched there
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and French President François Hollande will meet in two weeks to follow up on the results of the international conference that took place in Paris on January 15, the PA leader said on Wednesday.
Speaking before a meeting of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, Abbas said that he will travel to France on February 7 to thank Hollande and “set into place a clear and defined [international] mechanism,” Wafa, the official PA news agency, reported.
Despite the Palestinian leadership’s repeated calls for the creation of an intentional mechanism to monitor the peace process in the weeks before the conference, the concluding statement of the Paris parley made no mention of one.
Ahmad Majdalani, a close adviser to Abbas, told The Jerusalem Post that the PA president and Hollande are meeting to continue the work of the international conference.
“The Paris conference did not end on January 15; there are additional steps that need to be taken by the participants in the conference,” Majdalani, who is also a PLO Executive Committee member, said.
“We need to ensure that the decisions of the conference are implemented, and that there is a mechanism based on international law to monitor a meaningful peace process that leads to results and holds Israel accountable for settlement building.”
The concluding statement of the conference called on both parties to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to reaffirm their commitment to a twostate solution and refrain from unilateral measures, and reiterated support for negotiations and an agreement based on UN resolutions and satisfying Israeli security needs.
Over the past week and a half, some Palestinian leaders have criticized the results of the international conference, saying they were underwhelming.
“The conference did not rise to the level of an international conference that seeks to force Israel to end its occupation and respect the law and international resolutions,” Mustafa Barghouti, a PLO Executive Committee member, said.