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Why France believes Abbas is part of the peace problem

France has long understood that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects its UN initiative, but has only recently realized that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is no longer a part of the solution, but part of the problem.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius talks to journalists outside Palais Coburg, the venue for nuclear talks in Vienna, Austria, July 7, 2015. Iran and six major powers will keep negotiating past Tuesday's deadline for a long-term nuclear agreement as they tackle the most contentious issues, including the continuation of a U.N. arms embargo on Iran, the big powers said. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger - RTX1JEIQ
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Let's start from the end. Even in 2015, which marks the 10th anniversary of the target date set by the 2003 Road Map of the Quartet (European Union, United States, United Nations and Russia) for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the flag of Palestine will not be flying outside UN headquarters in New York. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, the man who cooked up the proposed resolution turning the Palestinian Authority (PA) into a Palestinian state, and sought to serve his stew to the UN Security Council, has decided to put his initiative on the back burner, if not in the deep freezer. Israelis who spoke to him at the end of his lightning visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah on June 22 got the impression that the French diplomat had come to the grim conclusion that there are no serious buyers for the initiative on either side.

Fabius did impart to reporters that “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu told me he wants negotiations,” taking the trouble to add, “No, this is not a joke, I’m serious.” But an Israeli diplomatic source with knowledge of Fabius' encounters in Jerusalem and Ramallah told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Netanyahu was mostly interested in expressing his dissatisfaction from the French attempt to bypass the deadlocked negotiations. The prime minister warned his guest that Israel would view UN recognition of a Palestinian state as a severe violation of the Oslo Accord, and would thus consider itself relieved of all its commitments to the PA. Not only that, Netanyahu hinted that he would not hesitate to start a media campaign against the French administration over the Palestinian issue, as he did against the Obama administration over Iran.

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