Palestinians back French confab on peace talks

The Palestinians say they strongly support a French initiative to hold a ministerial meeting, probably on May 30, as a first step to an international conference aimed at reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki says Palestinian and French leaders agreed during meetings in Paris a few days ago that the French initiative should move ahead and not be jeopardized by Palestinian efforts to get the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution that would condemn Israeli settlements as an obstacle to peace.

He says an Arab ministerial committee will be meeting very soon to decide when to give “the green light” to circulate the draft resolution to council members.

Malki spoke after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met China’s UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi, the current council president.

— AP