France postpones international peace conference until January

France postponed the international peace conference which was supposed to take place on December 21 in Paris until the beginning of January, The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday quoted a top Palestinian official as saying. 

“The conference was surprisingly postponed because they [France] said it had not completed all preparations…and some parties requested its postponement in order to participate in it,” the Palestinian Ambassador to France Salman Harfi told the Voice of Palestine on Wednesday morning.

Harfi added that French officials informed him that the conference will now take place at the beginning of January. 

The Palestinian diplomat also said he is not certain if the Israeli and Palestinian sides will attend the conference. 

“Invitations will be sent to everyone, but if Israel refuses to attend, the meeting will take place as it did last June without the two sides,” Harfi stated.

Twenty-five foreign ministers from the US, EU, and the Arab world attended a meeting in Paris in early June, where they reaffirmed their commitments to achieving a two-state solution. 

Israel has consistently said that it opposes holding an international peace conference in Paris.

Source: MENA