Kerry urges Trump administration to attend Syria peace talks

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged the incoming Trump administration to accept an invitation from Russia to attend Syria peace talks next week. 
Speaking to reporters after a Mideast peace conference in Paris, Kerry said he supports the meeting that Russia, Turkey and Iran are co-sponsoring in Kazakhstan on Jan. 23 and that it “would be good” for the US to be represented there.
“My hope is the next administration will decide to go,” he said. “I think it would be good for them to go.”
He said he hoped the meeting would make some progress and lead to a resumption of the Geneva talks, which are aimed at producing a transitional government and an eventual election in Syria. 
France warned of “serious consequences” if Donald Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as representatives from 70 countries met in Paris to try to revive stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Ayrault said the international community wanted to “forcefully reiterate that the two-state solution is the only solution possible” to the seven-decade-old conflict.
He also warned the US president-elect against relocating the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in a move to recognize the contested city as Israel’s capital.
Ayrault said such a move, which Trump promised during campaigning, would have “extremely serious consequences” and predicted the incoming US leader would find it impossible to implement.
“When you are president of the United States, you cannot take such a stubborn and such a unilateral view on this issue. You have to try to create the conditions for peace,” he told France 3 TV.
A final communique issued at the conference on Sunday warned Israel and the Palestinians against “unilateral steps” on Jerusalem and borders that could threaten a two-state solution.
In a statement, the conference called on them to avoid steps that “prejudge the outcome of negotiations on final status issues, including, inter alia on Jerusalem, borders, security, refugees.”
It also said the pre 1967 war borders should provide the basis for negotiations, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said.
The communique shied away explicitly from criticizing plans by US president-elect Donald Trump to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem, but said a new conference would be held by year-end for interested parties. 
Both Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas have been invited to meet with President Francois Hollande to discuss the conclusions of the Paris talks.
Abbas, who has backed the conference, is expected to travel to Paris in the coming weeks but Netanyahu has rejected the offer, French diplomats said.
The Israeli premier on Sunday again heaped criticism on the conference, calling it “futile.”
The Paris conference is mainly symbolic, but comes at a crucial juncture for the Middle East, five days before Trump is sworn in as US president.
Israel, which insists only direct talks with the Palestinians can bring peace, fears the meeting could produce measures that could be put to the Security Council before Trump takes over.
The French have stressed they have no such plans.
“France has no other desire than to serve peace, and there is no time to lose,” Ayrault said.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians are running high following a wave of Palestinian attacks.
Israel’s ongoing expansion of settlements on land the Palestinians want for their state is also seen as a major obstacle to a resolution.
Peace efforts have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.
On Saturday, Abbas warned of a major escalation if the US Embassy was moved to Jerusalem.
The city’s status is one of the thorniest issues in the conflict.
The Palestinians regard Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel proclaims the entire city as its capital.
“Any attempts at legitimising the illegal Israeli annexation of the city will destroy the prospects of any political process, bury the hopes for a two-state solution, and fuel extremism in our region, as well as worldwide,” Abbas warned.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who rebuked Israel recently over its settler activity on Palestinian territory, will join the talks on his farewell tour, along with delegates from the UN, EU and Arab League.
A draft conference communique called on Israel and the Palestinians to restate their support for two states and to refrain from “unilateral steps that prejudge the outcome of final status negotiations.”
Israel fears being further isolated by the conference, which comes hot on the heels of a landmark December UN resolution criticizing the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
The vote passed after the Obama administration — in a parting shot at Netanyahu after years of frustrated mediation efforts — took the rare step of abstaining rather than using its veto to protect Israel.
Explaining the US abstention, Kerry warned last month that settlement expansion, terrorism and violence were “increasingly cementing an irreversible one-state reality” that would never yield real peace.
“It would be a unilateral decision that could escalate tensions on the ground,” a senior French diplomat said.
“It’s not negligible that 70 countries recall (the need for) a two-state solution when his administration could implement controversial measures that may aggravate things.”

Source : Arab News