PARIS — UN Security Council Resolution 2334, passed Dec. 23 affirming the illegality of Israeli settlements, shifted the international diplomatic agenda, focusing global attention once again on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The resolution was just the first in a series of steps concerning the conflict that captured the world's attention. One can also include the Dec. 28 speech by US Secretary of State John Kerry detailing parameters for advancing the two-state solution. These two events alone guaranteed that the world would pay attention to the Jan. 15 Paris conference for peace in the Middle East and its concluding joint declaration.
Focus on the conference continued after its conclusion, with the European Union (EU) Foreign Affairs Council meeting Jan. 16 to address its results. Although British intervention at the meeting blocked foreign ministers' adoption of the Paris conference's joint declaration, which states that the two-state solution is the only viable road to peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians, it will not diminish a European effort to advance the declaration's conclusions.