Paris draft says 2-state solution best for Israel, Palestinians

Jerusalem: In a strong message to Israel and the incoming Trump administration, dozens of countries are expected this weekend to reiterate their opposition to Israeli settlements and call for the establishment of a Palestinian state as "the only way" to ensure peace in the region.

France is hosting more than 70 countries on Sunday at a Mideast peace summit, in what will be a final chance for the Obama administration to lay out its positions for the region. According to a draft statement obtained by The Associated Press on Friday, the conference will urge Israel and the Palestinians "to officially restate their commitment to the two-state solution."

It also will affirm that the international community "will not recognize" changes to Israel's pre-1967 lines without agreement by both sides.

The draft says that participants will affirm "that a negotiated solution with two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, is the only way to achieve enduring peace."

Israel has settled some 600,000 of its citizens in the West Bank and east Jerusalem occupied territories claimed by the Palestinians for a future independent state. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war.

The summit comes on the heels of a UN Security Council resolution last month that condemned the settlements as illegal. The resolution passed 14-0 after the United States declined to use its traditional veto power and instead abstained.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is attending Sunday's summit as one of his last international appearances in official capacity, said in a farewell speech last month that Israel's continued settlement growth threatens the possibility of a two-state solution.

He also criticised Palestinian attacks on civilians and incitement to violence.

On Sunday, a Palestinian truck driver rammed his vehicle into a crowd of Israeli soldiers at a popular Jerusalem tourist spot, killing four people and wounding 17 others in the deadliest single attack of more than a year of violence.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out a return to the 1967 lines, and many members of his nationalist coalition oppose Palestinian independence and support expanded settlements.

Netanyahu has rejected the UN resolution and accuses the Obama administration of conspiring behind Israel's back. Israel has refused to participate in the French conference, which Netanyahu on Thursday claimed was "rigged" against his country.