Anti-Israel conference in Paris fizzles out

‘Answer to prayer’, says Meshoe

The Paris Peace Conference on Sunday which prompted calls by ACDP leader Rev Kenneth Meshoe for “prayer and fasting for sanity to prevail” fell far short of fears of anti-Israel nations imposing solutions on the Jewish state.

“Our God has answered our prayers,” says Meshoe in a statement released yesterday in which he thanks those who prayed.

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Following United Nation Security Council Resolution 2334 of December 23 2016 which describes Israeli settlements as illegal and accuses Israel of being responsible for the Middle East Crisis, it was widely anticipated that the gathering of some 70 nations in Paris would become a springboard for another anti-Israel resolution at the UN and new measures against Israel.

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Major transition in global diplomacy
But the Paris conference, which called on Israel and the Palestinians to pursue a two-state solution, came up with nothing new, ending with a whimper and not a bang, as CBN said in a report which speculates that an expected major transition in global diplomacy following the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump tomorrow weighed heavily on what went down in the French capital.

In yesterday’s statement on answers to prayer, Meshoe summarises the action in Paris as follows:

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“1. The British Government that supported UNSC Resolution 2334 questioned the purpose and timing of the Paris conference, and did not support or sign the Paris document.

“2. Britain further expressed her reservations about an international conference intended to advance peace between parties that does not include them. The conference took place against the wishes of the Israelis.

“3. French President Hollande said the ‘world cannot impose a peace agreement upon Israel. Israel must be directly involved in developing any agreement.’

“4. John Kerry [US Secretary of State] promised Israel’s Prime Minister via a telephone call from the Paris conference that he would prevent any follow up action to Resolution 2334 by the UN Security Council.

“5. Finally, Britain blocked a French effort to have the European Union endorse the Paris ‘peace’ conference communiqué.”

Meshoe concludes that the conference “was an embarrassing failure that left it’s organisers and
enemies of Israel fuming, and with egg on their faces”.

Israel’s new foreign ministry chief  Yuval Rotem hailed the conference outcome as a victory for Israel .

No new obligations
“As far as Israel is concerned, the most important outcome from Paris was that it imposed no new obligations’ on Israel and finished without any mechanism to apply or follow up on the provisions it laid out for achieving peace,” Rotem said to Times of Israel.

Veteran US security advisor and Middle East analyst Shoshana Bryen commented in Breaking Israel News that part of the Paris conference communique that deals with financial aid for “consolidation of Palestinian state capacities, and civil society dialogue” was an outright admission of failure in that after 23 years and billions of dollars of aid, there was a lack of infrastructure, service delivery and a civil society in areas of Israel under Palestinian control.

If the Trump administration really wants to help the cause of Israel’s security, legitimacy and acknowledged permanence in the region, it should insist that US taxpayer dollars be spent accountably or not at all until the Palestinians get their financial, as well as political, house in order, she said.

Addressing anticipated changes in US Middle East policy under Trump, CBN Senior Editor John Waage told CBN: “”I think this could be a real pivot point as far as world diplomacy goes because the incoming Trump administration has signaled that they aren’t prepared to do business as usual.

“And business as usual for the past 40 years essentially has been Israel needs to make painful sacrifices in order to bring peace with the Palestinians.”

In this period of expected diplomatic transition voices that question the feasibility of the widely-accepted two-state solution are being raised. Among them, Philip Rosenthal of Christian View Network in South Africa has written an article titled Why the Paris Peace Conference proposals for Israel can’t work. Charisma News this week also posted an article Why a two-state solution presents a three-state problem

In his final press conference as president of the US, Barrack Obama said he has warned Trump’s team that its proposal to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem could be explosive, and he has expressed concern that chances for a two-state solution were dimming.