President Reuven Rivlin met Tuesday morning with Gerard Larcher, the President of the French Senate, who is visiting Israel this week.
President Rivlin told the French official that Israel appreciates French concern over the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but said, “There are no shortcuts in the Middle East.”
The Israeli president said the solution to the conflict requires building trust and direct negotiations between the two sides.
“Without trust,” he said, “no solution will work. Without negotiations, no solution can be reached.”
President Rivlin also told Monsieur Larcher that the recent UN Security Council resolution 2334 condemning Jewish communities in post 67 territories was not helpful in building trust. Instead, he said, that vote had pushed the two sides further away from peace.