A day after he demanded that Israel divide Jerusalem, French President Nicolas Sarkozy invited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to visit France next week. It will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Prime Minister Netanyahu formed a new government following the February Knesset election.
Responding to the prime minister’s declarations on Jerusalem Day Thursday that the capital will remain undivided, President Sarkozy stated, "In France's eyes, Jerusalem should, within the framework of a negotiated peace deal, become the capital of two states."
In a dramatic speech to the Knesset last year during his visit to Israel, Sarkozy stated that there will be no peace in the Middle East without Israel’s ceding sovereignty over eastern Jerusalem. The president, whose grandfather was a Jew, also drew protests from Arab legislators when he praised Israeli democracy and quoted Biblical verses that the Almighty promised the Land of Israel to Jews.
Prime Minister Netanyahu made it clear in his speeches on Ammunition Hill and at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva Thursday that his government is drawing the red line at giving up sovereignty over the holy sites in the capital.
President Sarkozy’s response came as his government backed the new Palestinian Authority government formed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and called on it to resume talks with Israel. Abbas so far has rejected Prime Minister Netanyahu’s offer for an immediate resumption of negotiations without preconditions. He has demanded that Israel first accept the establishment of a new PA state on the land of Judea, Gaza and Samaria.
A French government spokesman stated that the PA should accept the offer “without delay” and should comply “with the commitments made under the Roadmap and implement the Palestinian reform and development plan with a view to the creation of an independent, sovereign, viable, democratic and modern Palestinian state existing in peace and security alongside Israel."