During a visit to Amman on Sunday (June 21), French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius highlighted Jordan's key role in helping resolve disputes in the Middle Eastern region.
“Jordan is a country that is committed to finding solutions to the conflicts that are rocking its neighbors. Jordan is a country that has proven its generosity by taking in a great number of refugees, and I want to acknowledge that generosity,” Fabius said during a joint news conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.
“Jordan is a country that defends the values of tolerance and coexistence. It's a country that actively combats terrorism and extremism. And these are views that we entirely share and take on board,” he added.
Fabius stressed that a two-state solution would be the best way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
“We totally stand by Jordan and our other friends on working as much as possible to find a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian issue. We know that this solution is referred to as a so-called “two-state-solution” he said.
“But today, unfortunately, we have hit a dead-end,” he added, saying that, “Our idea is to work from different channels, always with the same goal of reaching the same two-state solution. On the one hand, to implement justice for Palestinians, who should have their own state, and on the other hand, to emphasize that security will be guaranteed for Israel. And this will be done in a series of stages that can either be successive or parallel. It will have to be a result of the negotiations.”
U.S.-led efforts to broker peace for a two-state solution collapsed in April 2014 and leaders on both sides have since been weakened politically.
The French foreign minister is set to explore prospects for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem later on Sunday.
Paris hopes to persuade the Arab states, the European Union and the UN Security Council to pressure both sides to make compromises that neither wants to make.
France has so far focused with Arab states on a possible UN Security Council resolution that would set negotiating parameters and establish a time period, possibly 18 months, to complete talks.
Judeh said the solution to the Palestinian case has to be comprehensive in order to avoid wars.
“The solution to the Palestinian case has to be a comprehensive one, and not just one that results in the creation of an independent Palestinian state that has its own sovereignty so that all the region's countries have security and peace,” he said.
Fabius' trip comes before a final round of nuclear talks between major powers and Iran in late June.
Washington has made clear it will not discuss the Middle East process until the Iran situation is clear, which could delay French moves beyond September.
REUTERS