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Last update - 22:26 04/10/2008
French FM: I fear Mideast peace process could be forgotten
By News Agencies
Tags: France, Bernard Kouchner 

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on Saturday he feared the world may forget the Middle East peace process while distracted by the U.S. election, a government change in Israel and tension with Iran.

Kouchner met Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and later held talks with President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

On Sunday he will meet with outgoing prime minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem
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"My concern is, and what I do not want to see, is that the change in the U.S. administration, and the formation of a new government in Israel, as well as the preoccupation with Iran would push everybody to forget the peace process in the region," Kouchner said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who has been nominated to form a new government following the resignation of Ehud Olmert last month under a cloud of corruption allegations, is also Israel's chief negotiator in talks with the Palestinians.

Abbas told a news conference with Kouchner later in Ramallah that he was confident Livni would continue peace negotiations.

"We feel she may continue in the path towards peace so that the Palestinian state will be established and this will be in the interests of Israel as much as it is an aspiration for the Palestinians," Abbas said.

Kouchner said he was "not worried that Livni would abandon her role in the peace negotiations."

But Palestinian and Israeli officials and Western diplomats, have said it was most unlikely Israel and the Palestinians could meet the target date of the end of 2008 for a deal set by U.S. President George W. Bush last year.

Palestinian officials believe negotiations will be suspended until after a new U.S. president takes office in January and until a new Israeli government is formed. Olmert will stay on as caretaker premier until parliament approves a new government.

Abbas told Bush last month that the chances of a deal this year were slim because of wide differences over key issues.

Abbas said on Saturday that Israel's offers fell below Palestinian expectations for a viable, contiguous state.

"We are working towards achieving the vision of two states ... The two-state solution enjoys international unanimity, we must work to achieve this objective and remove all voices that call for something that contradicts it," he said.

Kouchner said Saturday that a proposal to deploy an international force in the Palestinian territories is being studied, but gave no details.

While touring the West Bank town of Jenin on Saturday, Kouchner was asked about a report that France will propose the deployment of monitors or a European peacekeeping force in a future Palestinian state.

According to a report in the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat, the proposal is to address Israeli security concerns and help move Israeli-Palestinian peace talks forward.

Kouchner replied that "this is a suggestion that was proposed before, and we are working on studying this proposal. A decision was not taken yet, but the idea itself is not bad."

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    Forgotten peace
    French FM: I fear distracted world may forget Mideast peace process.
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      1.   We need more foreigners in charge here 14:23  |  Avi 04/10/08
      2.   useless proposal 14:43  |  Vitaly 04/10/08
      3.   no doubt this would be called: OCCUPATION 14:49  |  Avi 04/10/08
      4.   For the sake of peace it is high time to take up the Jordanian 14:54  |  Nahum 04/10/08
      5.   # nahum 15:17  |  Axel 04/10/08
      6.   why not reinstate the mandate this time a french one 15:52  |  v.hardman 04/10/08
      7.   arafat dream coming true 15:57  |  paulo2005 04/10/08
      8.   to #2 16:03  |  Northern 04/10/08
      9.   # 4 IF Palestinians were to HAVE THE SAME/SIMILAR RIGHTS 16:04  |  Kris Lazar 04/10/08
      10.   #8 an intresting post in hypocrisy from kris kros in osterreich 16:26  |  v.hardman 04/10/08
      11.   Vitaly of Jerusalem @# 2 16:36  |  Akiva P 04/10/08
      12.   #8 Only right Palestinians focus on is the right to kill Israelis 16:50  |  McQueen 04/10/08
      13.   "# 5 Paul Harris Jewish colonialism is not dead 17:10  |  Labhras 04/10/08
      14.   #8 kris kross and the arab refusal to be citizens at any time 18:00  |  v.hardman 04/10/08
      15.   "...in a future Palestinian state" 20:17  |  chet 04/10/08
      16.   This is where the Settler Enterprise, chosen by Israel, has led 20:55  |  Ivar 04/10/08
      17.   vhardman 21:39  |  Dave Duncan 04/10/08
      18.   Make order in your own house 22:35  |  David 04/10/08
      19.   # 4 Nahum 22:50  |  Realistic Arab 04/10/08
      20.   #17 Dave Dunacan er Victor Hardman 23:22  |  Labhras 04/10/08
      21.   # 18 david 23:30  |  Axel 04/10/08
      22.   French FM should first free Shalit 23:46  |  Great White North 04/10/08
      23.   There already is a two state solution for muslim/arab palestinian 23:51  |  Great White North 04/10/08
      24.   #17 dave the palestinarabs have their own state its called jordan 00:12  |  v.hardman 05/10/08
      25.   Settelement Activity Undermines Arabs Occupation-Jihad-Expansion 00:44  |  Joseph.E 05/10/08
      26.   Kouchner, another nerd or jerk? 01:32  |  Dwido 05/10/08
      27.   #4 Nahum 01:16  |  Jim 05/10/08
      28.   #7 paulo2005 01:28  |  Jim 05/10/08
      29.   Kouchner Legitimise Arabs False Claims and Arabs Terror ? 01:38  |  Joseph.E 05/10/08
      30.   #13 labhras 01:44  |  Jim 05/10/08
      31.   #18 David 01:54  |  Jim 05/10/08
      32.   "..., but the idea itself is not bad."--FM Kouchner 03:53  |  Jeff Northridge 05/10/08
      33.   Body Language 05:37  |  Shtarka 05/10/08
      34.   Kris Lazar 16:05  |  utagawa 05/10/08
      35.   It isn`t real on one side! 17:46  |  rigma 05/10/08
      36.   Pasting rows! 17:47  |  rigma 05/10/08
      37.   Israel! 17:48  |  rigma 05/10/08
      38.   v.hardman vs.Labhras 13:14  |  Miro 06/10/08
      39.   "Mideast peace process" will be the death of this region 09:05  |  Joe 07/10/08
      40.   It is the French who built Israel`s first nuclear reactor. France 14:19  |  Abbas 07/10/08
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