11 novembre 2009
FM Kouchner said France continues to believe Isael must agree to a freeze in settlement building on Palestinian land
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has left Washington on Tuesday and is travelling to France where he is scheduled to meet Wednesday with President Nicolas Sarkozy. Ahead of Netanyahu's arrival, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that France continues to believe Isael must agree to a freeze in settlement building on Palestinian land as a precondition to Middle East peace talks. "We think that a freeze on settlements, that is to say, no more colonisation while talks are ongoing, would be absolutely indespensable," Kouchner said in a radio interview in France. "We need talks and the peace process to restart." Few details have emerged on Monday night's White House meeting between Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama. There was no news conference following the talks and the prime minister did not brief the press. Instead, both sides referred to a brief statement put out by the White House after the meeting, about half of which was one-on-one and half of which included four members of staff on each side. Barak, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, National Security Council head Uzi Arad and the prime minister's adviser Yitzhak Molcho joined Netanyahu. "The president reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel's security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues," said the White House statement . "The president and prime minister also discussed Iran and how to move forward on Middle East peace." (08,41)