Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called this weekend’s Middle East peace conference in Paris “rigged” today, with his government refusing to play any role in the meeting.
“It’s a rigged conference, rigged by the Palestinians with French auspices to adopt additional anti-Israel stances,” Netanyahu said while meeting Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende. “This pushes peace backwards. It’s not going to obligate us. It’s a relic of the past. It’s a last gasp of the past before the future sets in.”
Sunday’s conference to be attended by some 70 nations is aimed at exploring ways to restart long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. Israel rejects the conference and calls for bilateral talks.