Israel’s PM rejects French peace effort

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 Mr Netanyahu’s proposal.

“It can still be called the French initiative because you would host this genuine effort for peace,” Mr Netanyahu said.

“But here’s the difference: I will sit alone, directly, with President Abbas in the Elysee (French presidential) palace or anywhere else that you choose. Every difficult issue will be on the table.”

Mr Netanyahu, who has repeatedly expressed his opposition to the French proposal, said “this initiative can still take place in Paris, because that would be a marvellous place to sign a peace accord. It’s a marvellous place anyway.”

Mr Valls is visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories to advance his country’s plan to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. He is due to hold talks in Ramallah on Tuesday with Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.

Mr 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 Palesti-nians present.