Paris, Sept 29: French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin has called for an international conference on the Middle East to help restart the stalled peace process and suggested sending a buffer force to the region. "We must restart the roadmap. When things get difficult, one must change pace and move into higher gear. We need shock therapy here and an international conference could provide that,” the French Foreign Minister said in a radio interview yesterday.
De Villepin also called for an end to "the battle of preconditions" where participants "expect the other party to make the first move”.
Alternatives to the current deadlock in the Middle East could include sending a buffer force to help calm the escalating tensions and an accelerated transition to sovereignty for Iraq, he added. Asked about the US and Israel's boycott of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, de Villepin said, "Arafat is there, he is the President and Palestine's legitimate authority, and any tendency to crystallise international issues around personalities is a mistake." As for the wall being built by Israel in a bid to keep Palestinian extremists at bay, de Villepin commented, "Security is a good reason, but as far as principles are concerned, a wall is outdated, and its layout would end up freezing things in an unacceptable sort of way." Bureau Report