France's Hollande meets Abbas, calls for renewal of talks

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PARIS - French President Francois Hollande said on Friday everything must be done to relaunch a long-stalled Middle East peace process that could lead to the recognition of a Palestinian state.

"Today, we must do everything to facilitate the recognition of a Palestinian state via a negotiated process," Hollande told a news conference following a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris.

"I affirm this before President Abbas: dialogue must start again and the sooner the better," Hollande, flanked by Abbas, said.

Prior to the meeting with Abbas, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent national security adviser Ya'akov Amidror to Paris to meet Hollande and new French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Wednesday.

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=273191

[azurnoir]

1. interesting all around but here is an interesting snip from your OP

The Prime Minister’s Office did not issue any statement about the meeting, or Amidror’s meeting that same day with Fabius.

Amidror frequently makes quick diplomatic trips to foreign capitals, but these are done discretely and without any accompanying publicity.

Amidror likes to work in the shadows, one government official said.

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2. I myself much prefer to work in the shadows.

Much less of other people meddling with your activities that way, I find.


It will be interesting to see what, if anythng, Hollande does different from Sarkozy. It's a pleasure to see Sarkozy spending more time with his famiy, in any case.

[azurnoir]

3. quite pleasant indeed to see Sarkozy spending time with his family

indeed he and wife could use the time to reacquaint themselves