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France postpones Middle East conference

President Hollande said meeting will now go ahead in summer because US Secretary of State Kerry could not make planned date of 30 May.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

France's planned conference on Middle East peace has been postponed, President François Hollande said on Tuesday, reports RFI.

The meeting will go ahead in the summer because US Secretary of State John Kerry cannot attend on the planned date of 30 May.

It is vital for France to take "a strong initiative" in the dispute, Hollande said.

"If not ... what will happen? Settlement building, attacks," he said.

The original proposed date falls on the US Memorial Day holiday honouring members of the armed forces who have died in combat.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said Monday that Washington is discussing dates "that might work better for the secretary", although he said Kerry's agenda is "jammed".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave French foreign affairs minister Jean-Marc Ayrault a frosty welcome on Sunday in Jerusalem, casting doubt on France's "impartiality" because French representatives voted for a Unesco resolution on the Al-Aqsa mosque compound that has aroused controversy in Israel.

Read more of this report from RFI.