PEACE AND SAFETY DIALOG CONTINUES
November 17, 2009
http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Excerpt from India ZEENEWS.COM via World News
Sarkozy offers to host Middle East peace talks: Report
Sunday, November 15, 2009, 16:22 IST
Jerusalem: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has offered to host a Middle East peace conference in Paris in talks with Israeli, Syrian and Palestinian leaders last week, an Israeli daily reported on Sunday.”Sarkozy first raised the proposal in his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, then with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Syrian President Bashar Assad,” Haaretz said, quoting unnamed French officials.
Such a conference would also include Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, as well as representatives of the Middle East Quartet which includes the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the
United States, it said.
Sarkozy met both Netanyahu and Assad in Paris last week and spoke by phone with Abbas, whose aides said the French leader had offered “important suggestions” to restart the stalled peace process.
The French offer comes after months of US efforts to re-launch peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians failed to produce any breakthrough.
Asked to comment on the report, a senior official at the Israeli foreign ministry would only say under condition of anonymity that “Israel welcomes in advance all possibilities of a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Syrian and Palestinian presidents.”
Bureau Report
Begin Excerpt from Jerusalem Post
PM: France could mediate Syria talks
November 15, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
In a first response to Syria’s announcement that it was prepared to resume indirect negotiations with Israel mediated by Turkey, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel would be willing to accept France as a medi
ator in peace negotiations with Syria.
“If France would want to serve as a mediator, we would be willing,” Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting.
Netanyahu’s statement came after Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday called for talks to resume with Turkey as a mediator.
The prime minister, however, said Jerusalem did not believe Ankara was objective enough to mediate the talks.
“Israel is prepared to hold negotiations without precondition with the Syrians. I prefer direct talks, but if [they are] with a mediator then it must be fair.
The Turkish prime minister [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] has not strengthened his image as an objective, fair mediator,” said Netanyahu.
Turkey mediated four rounds of indirect talks with Israel under former prime minister Ehud Olmert.
Those efforts were halted when the IDF began Operation Cast Lead at the end of December and were never resumed.
But the Turkish-Israeli relationship has recently become strained, leading to speculation that France could mediate any new talks.
In an interview recorded on Friday afternoon
and broadcast on France 2 television on Friday evening, Assad said France could play an important role in getting talks started.
France “should support the role of the Turkish mediator and persuade Israel to return to the negotiating table with the Turkish mediator,” he said.
French-Turkish relations however, have also deteriorated, because French President Nicolas Sarkozy is a firm and vocal opponent of EU membership for Turkey. It is not clear whether Paris could have much influence with Ankara.
Tovah Lazaroff and AP contributed to this report
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