French president calls for direct political dialogue between Israel, Palestine

By Busra Nur Cakmak and Mahmoud Barakat

ANKARA (AA) - The French president on Wednesday called for a direct dialogue between Israel and Palestine.

“In the short term, we know, this first requires the end of unilateral measures on the ground,” Emmanuel Macron said in a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at Elysee Palace in Paris.

“I am thinking in particular of the evictions of Palestinian families, the demolitions, and the settlement policy contrary to international law, which remove the possibility of establishing a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel,” Macron added.

He said that this peace also requires “the resumption of a direct political dialogue between the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

Abbas, for his part, said that the option of a two-state solution is "eroding" due to Israeli measures and practices and Palestinians "have been waiting for 74 years to get rid of the occupation."

He went on to say: "There is no people in the world living under foreign occupation, except us."

Abbas called on European countries that have not recognized the state of Palestine to recognize it with the aim of "preserving the two-state solution before it is too late."

At the invitation of the French president, Abbas arrived in Paris on an official visit on Tuesday traveling from Romania's capital Bucharest.