Macron to Unveil Peace Plan Soon If Trump Doesn’t, Top Diplomat Said to Tell MKs

• Macron to Unveil Peace Plan Soon If Trump Doesn’t, Top Diplomat Said to Tell MKs
  by TOI STAFF, https://www.timesofisrael.com/, 23 Oct 2018
  France will fill the vacuum if the US doesn’t launch its initiative next month, Foreign Ministry’s Alon Ushpiz reported to brief Knesset panel.
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  If US President Donald Trump does not present his Israeli-Palestinian peace plan next month, France’s President Emmanuel Macron will issue a proposal of his own, a senior Israeli diplomat reportedly told Knesset members at a closed-door briefing.
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  Alon Ushpiz, the Foreign Ministry’s political director, testified to the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday, in a closed session, that France is waiting out November 6’s US midterm elections, but that if Trump does not present his long-awaited plan in the first few weeks after that vote, Macron will publicize his own formula, TV news reports said.
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  The reports, on Israel’s Channel 10 and Hadashot TV, quoted MKs who were at the session. The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said the reports contained inaccuracies.
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  Channel 10 said Macron had instructed his foreign ministry in late August to explore new ideas for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that the French president had now signaled to Trump that if the US does not move ahead, Paris will. The Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry were spending considerable time discussing the possible Macron plan, the TV reports said.
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  A spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee said the reports “do not properly reflect” Ushpiz’s remarks to lawmakers. “Naturally, due to the [closed] forum, we cannot elaborate beyond this,” the spokesperson said.
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  The reports came a day after Channel 10 quoted Trump last month telling Macron that he was prepared to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the administration’s long-gestating peace initiative. Trump and Netanyahu are reportedly set to travel to Paris around November 11 for World War I centenary ceremonies hosted by Macron.
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  Also Monday, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner expressed impatience with the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock, telling CNN: “The status quo between Israel and the Palestinians is not acceptable. The situation is only getting worse. At some point, the leaders will have to take a bold step and make compromise. We hope to find leaderships that are ready to do so.”
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