Netanyahu questions French impartiality after UNESCO vote

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today he told the French foreign minister that Paris's support of a UNESCO resolution on Jerusalem cast doubt on the impartiality of a peace initiative it is promoting.
"I told him that the scandalous resolution accepted at UNESCO with France's support, that does not recognise the bond of thousands of years between the Jewish people and the Temple Mount, casts a shadow over the impartiality of the entire forum France is trying to convene," Netanyahu told the weekly cabinet meeting after his talks with Jean-Marc Ayrault.
Netanyahu was referring to a resolution adopted last month by the Paris-based UN cultural body on the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, which made no reference to the fact it is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and is the most sacred site in Judaism.

Netanyahu said Ayrault told him the "decision stemmed from a misunderstanding and that he would personally see to it that it does not recur."
Sources close to Ayrault said on Sunday that France "regretted" the resolution, echoing remarks by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls who on Wednesday called it "clumsy" and "unfortunate" and said it should have been avoided.
Ayrault's visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah, where he will be meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas later in the day, is in preparation for the May 30 international ministerial meeting to try to revive peace talks that have been frozen since a US-brokered initiative collapsed in April 2014.

Israeli and Palestinian representatives were not invited to the French peace meeting, and today Netanyahu reiterated his opposition to indirect peace attempts, blaming the Palestinians for refusing direct talks.

"I told him that the only way to advance true peace between us and the Palestinians is through direct talks, without preconditions," he said of his meeting with Ayrault.
"Any other attempt just distances peace and gives Palestinians a means of evading dealing with the root of the conflict, which is not recognising the State of Israel," he said.
"They're simply avoiding negotiating with us," Netanyahu said of the Palestinians.
Sources in Ayrault's entourage said today the French peace initiative was not aimed at "preventing or bypassing" direct talks between the parties, which Paris believes is the only way to resolve the conflict.

"The problem is there are currently no negotiations," the sources said.