Visiting Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki on Tuesday denounced Israel for betraying its commitment to freeze settlements in the West Bank.
"Instead of a freeze of the colony, we see a boom of it," al-Malki said during a joint press
conference with his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner.
The Palestine minister emphasized that the only way to reopen peace negotiations with Israel was "a total freeze of the colony activity," which had been an international consensus.
"It is not sufficient that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu only talks about part
peace yet excluding Jerusalem, excluding 3000 settlements and excluding public construction," he said.
France agreed with Palestine that "returning to political negotiation" needed "favorable
conditions," Kouchner said.
He then proposed to hold a Paris summit convening concerned parties to break the deadlock in the Middle East peace process, a proposal made several times by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The two sides also signed a partnership worth more than 200 million euros (292 million
U.S. dollars), comprising 68 million euros (99 million dollars) per year for three years, under
which France will provide government, infrastructure, education, culture and
humanitarian aid.