Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process
(Updated since 11April 2006 for France Diplomatie)
9 May 2006 – Meeting in New York (United Nations) of the Quartet for a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (European Union, United States, Russia, United Nations): agreement aiming to finalize a mechanism allowing for aid to be sent directly to the Palestinians.
16-17 May 2006 – French Foreign Affairs Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy visits Israel. Meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni: resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Meeting with key Palestinian figures at the French consulate in Jerusalem.
25-27 June 2006 – On the 25th, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades (armed branch of Hamas) abducts a Franco-Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, in Israeli territory, triggering an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. On the 27th, an Israeli is abducted in the West Bank. The land operation, “Summer Rains”, is launched in the Gaza Strip.
26-28 July 2006 – The European Troika (Erkki Tuomioja, Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister, current President of the Council of Ministers of the European Union, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Marc Otte, special representative of the European Union for the Middle East peace process) visits Israel. Meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni.
28 August – 6 September 2006 – United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan tours the Middle East. On the 29th and 30th, meetings with Defence Minister Amir Peretz, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni in Israel: application of resolution 1701, release of the two Israeli soldiers held by Hezbollah. On the 30th, meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank (Ramallah).
9-11 September 2006 – British Prime Minister Tony Blair tours the Middle East (Israel, Palestinian Territories). Meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni, and Defence Minister Amir Peretz in Israel: resumption of the Palestinian component of the peace process; intercession of the British Prime Minister in favour of a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas. Meeting with President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah (Palestinian Territories): support for the formation of a national union government meeting the Quartet’s conditions (European Union, United States, Russia, UN).
14 September 2006 – French Foreign Affairs Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy travels to the Palestinian Territories (Ramallah). Meeting with President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas: prospects for forming a national union government and pursuing the peace process.
20 September 2006 – The foreign affairs ministers of the Quartet for a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (European Union, United States, Russia, UN) meet in New York, alongside the 61st UN General Assembly: resumption of international financial aid for the Palestinians, formation of the Palestinian government.
25-26 October 2006 – Javier Solana Madariaga, EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), visits Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Meeting in Tel-Aviv with the Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister, Tzipi Livni, and the Defence Minister, Amir Peretz. Meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas: resumption of the peace process.
12 November 2006 – Extraordinary meeting in Cairo (Egypt) of the Foreign Affairs Ministers of the Arab League in reaction to Israel’s military operations of 8 November 2006 in Beit Hanoun (Gaza Strip): commitment of the Arab countries to “break the international blockage” imposed on the “Palestinian government” and call for a peace conference to be held with the Arab parties, Israel and the members of the United Nations Security Council.
18 November 2006 – Meeting in Djeddah of the extended ministerial executive board of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis following Israel’s attacks on Beit Hannoun in the presence of 11 Foreign Affairs Ministers, the department head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), Farouk Qaddoumi, and the “minister of foreign affairs”, Mahmoud Al-Zahhar.
5-6 December 2006 – Israeli Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni visits France. Meetings with the French President, Jacques Chirac, and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy: resumption of the peace process.
23 December 2006 – Meeting in West Jerusalem between the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert: resumption of the peace process, stalled since 2000, transfer of a portion of the Palestinian funds confiscated by Israel, extension to the West Bank of the ceasefire in force in the Gaza Strip, question of the release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli corporal captured on 25 June 2006, and Palestinian prisoners (creation of a joint committee). Publication of a joint communiqué.
12-17 January 2007 – US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, tours the Middle East (Israel, Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait: Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Vice Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs Minister and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, and Defence Minister Amir Peretz in Israel. Meeting with Mahmoud Abbas in the Palestinian Territories.
2 February 2007 – The foreign affairs ministers of the Quartet for a permanent solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Foreign Affairs Minister, current President of the Council of Ministers of the European Union, Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister, and Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary General) meet in New York (United Nations). Agreement on the need to speed up the creation of a Palestinian State, differences on the need to have talks with Syria, primacy of the “road map”, reaffirmation of the conditions precedent to resuming financial aid for the Palestinians.
19 February 2007 – Trilateral Jerusalem summit with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice: maintaining contacts between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
23-24 February 2007 – The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, visits Europe (France, Brussels – European Institutions). Meeting with the French President, Jacques Chirac, and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, in Paris: French support for the formation of a Fatah-Hamas national union government. Meeting with the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), Javier Solana Madariaga, in Brussels (European Institutions): resumption of the Middle East peace negotiations.
10 mars 2007 – The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, visits Jordan. Meeting with King Abdullah II Ibn Hussein: resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Palestinian national union government, preparation of the meeting scheduled for 11 March 2007 between Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
11 March 2007 – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas meet in Jerusalem (Israel): Palestinian national union government, question of the release of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit, compliance with the conditions laid down by the Quartet.
13-14 March 2007 – Multipartite conference in Tokyo, under the aegis of Japan, with Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Aso, Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres and chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat: stabilization of the Middle East through economic development and cooperation (reduction in the income disparity between Palestinians and Israelis with the construction of an agri-industrial park), as a supplement to the political process.
24-27 March 2007 – US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, tours the Middle East (Egypt, Israel, Palestinian Territories, Jordan): Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Meetings with the foreign affairs ministers of the Arab Quartet (Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak in Egypt (Assouan): Arab countries called on to get involved in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Meeting with the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, in the Palestinian Territories (West Bank – Ramallah): Arab peace plan with Israel, subject of the summit in Riyadh scheduled for 28-29 March 2007. Meeting with Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary General, touring the region, with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israeli Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni, and Defence Minister Amir Peretz in Jerusalem (Israel): possibility of holding a regional summit bringing together Israel, the Palestinians and the “moderate” Arab countries. Formation of the Palestinian national union government and release of Israeli corporal Gilad Shalit.
28-29 March 2007 – 19th ordinary summit of the Arab League held in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), presided over by Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saoud and in the presence of the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, the EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), Javier Solana Madariaga, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismaïl Haniyeh (Hamas), Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Manoucher Mottaki, and Qatari Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, among others. Of note: the presence of two Lebanese delegations, one led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora (accompanied by the acting Foreign Affairs Minister, Tarek Mitri), and the other by President Emile Lahoud (accompanied by the resigning Foreign Affairs Minister, Fawzi Salloukh). Resumption of the Arab peace initiative, the “Abdullah plan”, and creation to this end of a “special ministerial committee stemming from the Arab initiative”. Support for the Palestinian national union government, situation in the Palestinian Territories. Security cooperation, fight against terrorism, customs union, pan-Arab economic relations. Libya’s boycott of the summit, absence of Tunisian, Moroccan, Omani and Somali heads of state. Adoption of a final communiqué and a declaration.
31 March – 2 April 2007 – Angela Merkel, Federal Chancellor of Germany and current President of the European Union, tours the Middle East (Jordan, Israel, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon). Meetings with King Abdullah II Ibn Hussein of Jordan and the Foreign Affairs Minister, Abdel Ilah Khatib in Aqaba: Israeli-Palestinian conflict, situation in the Palestinian Territories and follow-up to the Arab League summit (Riyadh, 28-29 March 2007). Meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni in Israel. Meeting with the Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, in Ramallah (Palestinian Territories): call for the resumption of the peace process and for a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
1-3 April 2007 – Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister, Ziyad Abou Amro, visits France. Meetings with his counterpart, Philippe Douste-Blazy, and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. First visit of a Palestinian diplomacy chief to a European Union capital since Hamas came to power in March 2006. Request for the resumption of European financial aid and for the union government to be treated without differentiating between Hamas and non-Hamas ministers, resumption of the peace process following the Arab League summit (Riyadh, 28-29 March 2007), update on the situation in the Palestinian Territories.
23-24 April 2007 – The Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, tours Europe (Greece, Italy, Vatican City, Switzerland): Israeli-Palestinian peace process, situation in the Palestinian Territories, Palestinian national union government. Meeting with Prime Minister Costas Caramanlis in Greece. Meetings with President Giorgio Napolitano, Council President Romano Prodi, and Foreign Affairs Minister Massimo d’Alema in Italy (Rome). Meetings with Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, and the secretary for relations with states, Mgr. Dominique Mamberti, in Vatican City. Meeting with Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss president and foreign affairs minister, in Switzerland (Bern, Geneva).
15 June 2007 – Hamas takes control of the Gaza Strip. Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, declares a state of emergency. The Hamas-Fatah coalition government headed by Prime Minister Ismaïl Haniyeh is dismissed. The new prime minister, Salam Fayyad, is appointed.
17 June 2007 – The new government headed by Salam Fayyad, prime minister, finance and foreign affairs minister, is formed with 11 ministers.
25 June 2007 – Israeli-Arab summit in Charm el-Cheikh (Egypt). Participation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Discussions about reactivating the peace process, support for the Palestinian president in the face of Hamas’ power grab, promise to release 250 prisoners, bimonthly meeting between Palestinian and Israeli leaders, transfer of taxes.
25 June 2007– Charm el-Cheikh (Egypt) – Meetings between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas alongside a quadripartite Israeli-Arab summit.
29 June 2007 – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visits France. Meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy: support for the Palestinian Authority, political solution in the Palestinian Territories. Meeting with Bernard Kouchner, foreign affairs minister: deployment of an international force in the Gaza Strip.
27 June 2007 – Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed as the Quartet’s special envoy to the Middle East.
4 July 2007 – Tzipi Livni, foreign affairs minister, visits France. Meeting with his counterpart, Bernard Kouchner: confirmation of the release of 250 Palestinian Fatah prisoners. Meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy: discussions about reactivating the peace process.