By Xinhua
Jerusalem : Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sunday warned that “the window of opportunity for peace is shrinking.”
During a meeting with visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner at his office in Jerusalem, Peres said that “people are losing faith in peace,” according to a statement issued by the president’s office.
Lamenting that the policy in the Middle East is mostly one of paying lip service rather than that of implementation, Peres said that only substantial changes on the ground may usher in real peace.
He went on to call for the creation of thousands of additional jobs and the raising of living standards in the West Bank, saying that only through doing that, can Abu Mazen’s (Palestinian National Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas) position and the moderate peace camp, which opposes terror, be strengthened.
Peres also discussed with Kouchner ways of advancing political and diplomatic negotiations for the promotion of peace, economic cooperation, as well as the situation in Gaza and Iran’s nuclear issue.
For his part, Kouchner said that there had been no real progress in the peace process since December’s donors conference in Paris, in which the international community pledged billions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians over the next few years.
The French foreign minister also told Peres he felt a great deal of despair, frustration and hopelessness among Palestinians regarding the prospects of establishing a Palestinian state. This, he said, was “a dangerous thing.”
Kouchner arrived here overnight Friday and visited Bethlehem on Saturday before holding talks with Abbas and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
He will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni later on Sunday.