WASHINGTON — Over two dozen foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, will convene in Paris June 3 for an international conference on advancing a two-state solution in the Middle East, but neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority will send envoys. While Kerry agreed to attend, the United States has expressed ambivalence about the French initiative, saying without the will of the two parties, the peace process won’t succeed. France, for its part, said it was well aware of the difficulties, but something must be done to break the deadlock and get the parties back to the table.
“The first and most important thing is that the leaders themselves in the region have got … to make some tough decisions,” State Department spokesperson John Kirby told journalists at the State Department press briefing May 30. “And they have to show in real ways, not just rhetoric, that they’re willing to take the steps necessary to get us to a two-state solution, and to date they haven’t done that.”
