A Win For Israel: UK Refuses To Sign The Joint Statement; No Follow Up On The Paris Conference

The Sunday's Paris Peace Conference seems to have a favorable result for Israel. This is because no follow up is made from the Paris conference held last Sunday, according to Israel's new Foreign Ministry chief Yuval Rotem. Furthermore, the United Kingdom resisted the 70 nations and defended Israel.

Director General Yuval Rotem conceived the Sunday's Paris peace conference as a win for Israel. He said that Israel's decision not to be present at the said conference conveyed a message to the international community.

"The fact that the Paris conference has no followed up is from our perspective the most meaningful accomplishment," Rotem said. He further said that as far as Israel is concerned, the most important outcome from Paris was that it imposed "no new obligations" on Israel and "finished without any mechanism to apply or follow up" on the provisions it laid out for achieving peace. He added that the conference's declaration affirms Israel's view that "the only way to arrive at peace is by means of direct negotiations between the sides," as noted by Times of Israel.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom disregarded the anti-Israel sentiment by assessing the conference as harmful to Israel's interests. It also refused to sign a joint statement issued after the conference, which called for a two-state solution.

The U.K.'s Foreign Office released a statement that said they had "particular reservations about an international conference planned to advance peace between the parties that does not involve them." This refers to the lack of representatives from Israel or the Palestinian party.

The U.K. spokesperson stated that Britain had attended the summit as an "observer." There were no high-level diplomats present in the summit. The U.K. sent three low-level representatives to satisfy the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who reportedly objected the conference. In an interview with London Sunday Times, Trump called on Britain to protect Israel on the summit until he entered an office, according to Breaking Israel News.

The U.K. delegation refused to sign the statement that calls for a negotiated two-state solution in Israel. The U.K. also successfully blocked a French initiative to have the summit statement adopted by the European Union (EU) Foreign Affairs Council the day after the conference.