TEL AVIV – During a radio interview on Wednesday night, Breitbart Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein sounded off about the so-called French Middle East peace initiative, calling the movement “offensive” and out of touch with the facts on the ground in the Middle East.
“It’s offensive, that’s what it is to anybody here in Israel,” Klein stated of the initiative, speaking from Tel Aviv during his regular segment on John Batchelor’s nighttime program.
“I don’t know what the French are attempting to pull here, but clearly it’s not really about these negotiations,” stated Klein.
Listen to Klein’s full segment with John Batchelor below. Klein also discussed the U.S.-aided operation against the Islamic State in Fallujah, and Syrian refugees spreading a flesh-eating disease:
The French are reportedly seeking to propose a timetable on final-status issues, including Israeli-Palestinian negotiations over borders and so-called refugees.
Ignoring rampant Palestinian terrorism and official Palestinian Authority incitement to violence, the French Foreign Ministry explained one day before a summit on the proposal that Mideast peace is under threat, “particularly with regard to continued settlement activities.”
Klein noted that the French are seeking to create a Palestinian state while the PA leadership is unstable, the Islamic State is gaining ground in the Gaza Strip and Syria remains in turmoil. Also, the Palestinians have numerous times walked away from negotiations and have refused to come to the bargaining table despite unprecedented Israeli gestures aimed at jump-starting talks, including freezing Jewish settlement activity and releasing terrorists from prison.
Stated Klein about the timing of the French initiative:
This while Syria is in question, we have no idea what is going to happen. While (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud) Abbas virtually doesn’t exist as a powerbroker. He cannot even name a street after him without it being desecrated. As Iran is fighting (for control) in the West Bank; as ISIS is taking over in Gaza, is influential in the West Bank.
So into all of this comes France, and they want to create a Palestinian state. Because they claim that both sides need to be prodded. Including (Israel) the side that offered the other a state numerous times only to be rejected and presented with an intifada.
On Friday, France will hold a gathering in Paris consisting of the foreign ministers of 29 countries, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, to discuss the initiative. Notably absent are both Israel and the PA.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the French Middle East peace initiative as harmful to peace:
The path to peace is not via international conferences that attempt to force a settlement, that make the Palestinian demands more extreme and in the process distance peace,” the prime minister said. “If the countries gathering this week in Paris really want to advance peace, they should join my call to Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] to come to such direct negotiations. That’s the path to peace. There is no other way.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.