Netanyahu rejects French peace ‘initiative’, offers to meet Abbas

‘Direct negotiations only way to proceed to peace’

In this photo released by official website of the office of the Iranian Presidency, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani (right), is welcomed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the

Saadabad Palace in Tehran, Iran on May 23. (AP) JERUSALEM, May 23, (Agencies): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a multilateral French peace initiative as he met his French counterpart on Monday, offering instead to hold direct talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Paris.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said he would speak to President Francois Hollande about Netanyahu’s proposal.

Direct negotiations with the Palestinians are “the only way to proceed to peace,” Netanyahu said. He offered “a different French initiative” of face-to-face talks with Abbas in Paris.

Valls is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories to advance his country’s plan to restart IsraeliPalestinian peace efforts.

Abbas has welcomed the French initiative to hold a meeting of foreign ministers from a range of countries on June 3, without the Israelis and Palestinians present.

Another conference would then be held in the autumn, with the Israelis and Palestinians in attendance. The goal is to eventually restart negotiations that would lead to a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu has criticised the initiative and called for direct negotiations between the two sides.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, signs a guest book during a meeting with Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin at the President’s residence in

Jerusalem on May 23. Valls is on an official visit to the region. (AP)

Negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.

Netanyahu has repeatedly offered to meet Abbas for direct talks.

Palestinians leaders say years of negotiations with Israel have not ended its occupation and have pursued a strategy of diplomacy at international bodies.

In other news, Israel resumed cement shipments to the Gaza Strip on Monday, ending a 45-day-old ban it imposed after it accused the Palestinian enclave’s Hamas rulers of seizing some of the stock meant for rebuilding homes destroyed in a 2014 war.

Hamas has denied Israeli charges that it siphons off cement imports to fortify attack tunnels.

Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, welcomed the resumption of the shipments, saying in a statement that “all sides need to ensure that cement deliveries reach their intended beneficiaries and are used solely for civilian purposes.”

The first of some 90 truckloads of cement entered the Gaza Strip through an Israeli-controlled border crossing on Monday and Palestinian officials said they expected some 4,000 tonnes of the material would be brought in by the end of the day.

“But this can be reversed if we see another (Hamas) violation,” an Israeli official told Reuters.

The United Nations said 140,000 houses were partially or completely damaged during the 2014 war between Israel and the Hamas-led Gaza militants. Palestinians said 2,100 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians were also killed.

Adnan Abu Hasna, media adviser for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, said 1,000 houses were currently under reconstruction and 70,000 other homes with minor damage have been repaired. Another 1,000 houses were completely rebuilt by Qatar.

UN officials and international visitors to the region in past weeks have urged Israel to speed up the entry of construction material into Gaza to speed up the rebuilding process.

Meanwhile, authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip are planning to carry out a series of public executions, the attorney general in the Palestinian enclave said on Sunday.

Islamist movement Hamas has carried out previous executions in Gaza, although rarely in public and mainly of people accused of collaborating with Israel. Sunday’s announcement involved those convicted of criminal offences.

“Capital punishments will be implemented soon in Gaza,” attorney general Ismail Jaber told journalists. “I ask that they take place before a large crowd.”