French envoy in Egypt for talks on Mideast peace

CAIRO — A senior French envoy held talks in Egypt on Thursday on his country’s bid to organise an international conference later this year to revive the moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process, officials said.

Negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.

French envoy Pierre Vimont met Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry for talks on future steps he will take to prepare for the conference, a foreign ministry statement said.

The Arab League said its Secretary General Nabil Al Araby had similar talks with Vimont.

Earlier this month, representatives from 28 Arab and Western countries, the Arab League, European Union and the United Nations met in Paris to discuss ways in which the international community could help advance the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

Neither Israeli nor Palestinian representatives were invited to attend the meeting, which aimed to lay the ground for a fully fledged peace conference to be held by the end of the year.

The Palestinians have welcomed the French bid but Israel has said the initiative would go down in history as having “pushed peace further away”.