PARIS — ''We feared that we might receive just lip service approval; that our partners would agree, but not really engage. But at the end of the day, the partners present here and also several others have shown enthusiasm and commitment to this initiative,'' a French diplomat told Al-Monitor today, while waiting for the final June 3 Paris conference communique to be published.
Indeed, “enthusiasm” was the word repeatedly mentioned today in the corridors of the French Foreign Affairs Ministry. After deliberating for many weeks over a 50-something page draft, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault presented a short, clear and concise communique sketching the framework (UN Resolutions 242 and 338, and the Arab Peace Initiative) and the timetable (an international conference for the two-state solution by the end of the year) agreed upon by the 29 participants.
The Israelis and the Palestinians were not present at the French Ministry's hall while French President Francois Hollande made his speech inaugurating the conference, yet Hollande's words were directed at both Jerusalem and Ramallah. With US Secretary of State John Kerry sitting to his one side and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the other, Hollande specified that a void always fills up, that evidence to this effect can be seen in Iraq, Syria and Libya, and that the status quo only strengthens extremism. "The threats and priorities [in the Middle East] have changed. The changes make it even more urgent to find a solution to the conflict, and this regional upheaval creates new obligations for peace," Hollande said.
Trying to reassure Israel, Hollande also stressed that, ultimately, the two sides must be the ones to make the courageous decision of peace, and that France has no ulterior motive apart from advancing peace. In a specific message to Israelis, Hollande mentioned the speech by late French President Francois Mitterrand at the Knesset in 1982, warning against any unilateral steps that Israel could envisage. The French kept insisting throughout the conference about using the Arab Peace Initiative as a basis for a future arrangement — a basis that should benefit Israel greatly on the economic and regional cooperation fronts.
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