RAMALLAH, September 27, 2016 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday discussed with a visiting French Socialist Party delegation headed by First Secretary Jean-Christophe Cambadelis the international peace conference France is planning to hold before the end of this year.

Abbas told the delegation that it is important to make this conference a success, stressing that “the Palestinians are doing all they can with all concerned parties and in cooperation with France to muster support for the French initiative that brings hope of saving the peace process.”

Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah also met the French delegation at his office praising the French role and efforts to put together an international peace conference on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

He said that Israel’s settlement expansion undermine the two-state solution.

Hamdallah briefed the delegation on Israeli violations of Palestinian rights, particularly home demolitions and violations against prisoners.

He said Israel’s control over Area C of the West Bank, which makes around 64 percent of the area, denies the Palestinians the right to benefit from its natural resources estimated at $3.5 billion a year.

M.A.