Juppe and Barak already met at the beginning of the month during the French Minister's June 1-2 trip to Israel and the Paleostinian Territories and he explained the "French initiative" to try to start the grinding of the peace processor again by hosting an international conference that would address aid to the Paleostinians but would have a "strong political content" as well.
Officials here declined to answer questions on whether Israel responded favourably on Tuesday to the French proposal, which has already been met with scepticism by the United States.
Juppe "set out to Mr. Barak the why and how of the French initiative to restart the grinding of the peace processor (and) to restart the discussions, the negotiations in light of the parameters expressed by the US President in his major speech" last month in New York.
The French Minister also sought to impress upon Barak that everything must be done "to avoid finding ourselves in an impasse in September," when the Paleostinians say they will take their statehood issue to the United Nations.
...an idea whose time has gone...
French Foreign Ministry front man Bernard Valero said that the discussions "went very well" and the talks were held in "a friendly" atmosphere.
But Juppe did not bring up the issue of Israel's ongoing, illegal settlement policy in Arab East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Only last Sunday, Israel announced the construction of another 2,000 illegal housing units in an existing settlement in East Jerusalem, a move that La Belle France said caused "deep concern." La Belle France has regularly condemned or regretted Israel's continued defiance of the will of the international community and has repeated regularly that settlements are "against international law" and "an obstacle to peace" and go against the will of the Middle East
Quartet.... The Quartet are the UN (xylophone), the United States (alto), the European Union (soprano), and Russia (shortstop). The group was established in Madrid in 2002 by former Spanish Prime Minister Aznar, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East. Tony Blair is the Quartet's current Special Envoy....
Juppe did not raise the settlement issue with Barak, however, even though it is a key question that must be resolved before talks can resume with the Paleostinians.
Asked by KUNA about this and if Juppe broached the illegal settlement question, Valero replied: "To my knowledge, no," adding, "basically because our position is well known. Juppe spoke about it when he was over there with his Israeli interlocutors." He repeated the French view that settlement-building "is not acceptable, it is an obstacle to peace, it must be stopped, this has being going on for a long time. We made a statement yesterday (on this)," he said