French President Francois Hollande called on the Zionist entity to halt settlement construction, as he visited the Palestinian territories on Monday.
French President Francois Hollande called on the Zionist entity to halt settlement construction, as he visited the Palestinian territories on Monday.
In a speech after talks in the West Bank city of Ramallah with Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmud Abbas, the French leader made an
unequivocal demand for Israel to stop building on land seized in the 1967 Six-Day War.
"France demands a full and complete halt to settlement activity," Hollande said on his first official visit to the Palestinian territories.
"Settlement activity complicates the negotiations and makes it difficult to achieve a two-state solution," he said a day after talks in Israel focused heavily on the Iran nuclear issue.
Since direct peace negotiations resumed in the summer, ending a hiatus of nearly three years, Tel Aviv has announced thousands of new settler units in a move which has angered Ramallah and taken the talks close to collapse.
A previous round of talks in 2010 fell apart just weeks after it began in a bitter row over Israeli construction.
Hollande had raised the settlement issue on Sunday but in much softer language, saying he expected Israel to make "gestures" on settlement activity in order to advance peace negotiations which began in late July but which have made little apparent progress.
"If you want peace, you need to have gestures towards peace," he said.
But he made clear that France also expected "efforts" from the Palestinians.
"It is clear that this will require efforts from the Palestinians as a number of Israeli settlements will remain," a member of Hollande's entourage said.
Last week, Israeli plans to build another 20,000 new settler units sparked the resignation of the entire Palestinian negotiating team.
Despite the crisis, Abbas on Sunday told AFP that peace talks with Israel would continue for the full nine months agreed with Washington -- "regardless of what happens on the ground".
