By KUNA
Paris : France called here Wednesday for halting the violence that is being witnessed in the Palestinian lands and for the resumption of negotiations.
Spokeswoman of the French foreign ministry Pascale Andreani told reporters that her country calls for the “suspension” of the violence and to “pursue” the discussions in order to achieve a “progress” on the final status talks. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas announced today that he will not resume peace talks until Israel reaches a truce in Gaza Strip.
The recent Israeli escalation in Gaza killed over 130 Palestinians and wounded about 400 others since the military escalation erupted over the past week. Meanwhile, Andreani noted that the Secretary of State for human rights Rama Yade held talks in Paris recently with the Palestinian minister for prisoners affairs Ashraf Al-Ajrami.
She indicated that Al-Ajrami briefed Yade on the condition of the Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli detention camps, during which he expressed the Palestinian Authoritys concern towards this issue.
Acccording to Andreani, Yade stressed that “France calls for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners” and calls on Israel to take “significant gestures” in this regard in order to “reinforce” the PA and the peace process. The Spokeswoman added that Yade also underlined the importance of immediately releasing without “delay” Israel solider Gilad Shalit.