PARIS (EJP)---French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared that creating their own state is a "legitimate right" for the Palestinians and necessary for Middle East peace and Israel's security.
"No one would think seriously about peace in the Middle East without giving the Palestinians a state they have been persevering for years. It is their legitimate right," he told the Qatar news agency ahead of a formal visit of the emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Than, to France.
"The best guarantee for security of Israel is setting up an independent, democratic, modern and viable Palestinian state," he added.
Sarkozy, who is to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday in Paris, said: "Never I will compromise with Israel’s right to security but I say it to my Israeli friends: creating a an independent, modern, democratic and viable Palestinian state is the best and perhaps the only true security guarantee for Israel."
The French president welcomed "the prospect traced by the new Israeli Prime Minister of Palestinian state" in his recent policy speech. "It is an important move forward but reaching peace imposes to go well beyond that, without posing any precondition to the negotiation," he added.
| |
|
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Elysée Palace in Paris Wednesday afternoon.
In the evening he will have talks with US Mideast envoy George Mitchell.
|
The two parties must now define the outlines of this Palestinian State and tackle all the issues concerning the final status, notably the status of Jerusalem, the borders and the question of the refugees."
"France and Europe are ready, if the parties wish, to bring guarantees for the implementation of such an agreement," Sarkozy said.
He also stressed the necessity "to change the realty on the ground," adding that France along with its Euopean partners, with the US and with the whole international community "are calling for an immediate freeze of the settlements and the reopening of Gaza."
"Never on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, had the United States and Europe’s positions been so close," he said.