French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy warned the new Israeli government against unilaterally redrawing the map of the Jewish state without agreement with the Palestinians.
During a visit to Jerusalem, which saw him hold talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni, the top French diplomat said any attempt to bypass a negotiated agreement would be doomed.
‘There is no just or durable solution to the conflict other than negotiations for an agreement between the parties,’ Douste-Blazy told a joint news conference with Livni.
‘Unilateralism will allow neither party to achieve these legitimate objectives.
‘It is out of the question that a unilaterally determined border be subject to international recognition,’ Douste-Blazy added.
Livni reiterated the Israeli government's position that unilateral action would be taken only if negotiations with the Palestinians failed to make progress.
‘The Israeli idea is to promote a process that will lead to two states,’ she told the news conference.
Olmert is determined to use his four-year mandate to redraw Israel's borders by withdrawing around 70,000 Jews from the more isolated parts of the West Bank and retaining the largest settlement blocs in the Palestinian territory.
The Israeli leader says he would prefer a negotiated settlement but refuses to do business with a Palestinian Authority governed by the radical Islamist group Hamas which is committed to the Jewish state's destruction.
Meeting Palestinian intellectuals in Jerusalem, Douste-Blazy called for a meeting between Olmert and Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas.
He said it was in the interests of the new Hamas-led government to recognise Israel, abide by peace agreements and renounce armed struggle, but promised to ‘do everything to avoid humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories’.
The European Union and United States have suspended direct aid to the Palestinians since the radical Islamist movement took office in March, helping to exacerbate a serious financial crisis.
As a result none of the 160,000 Palestinian Authority civil servants have been paid since February, affecting the livelihoods of around one million people, or a quarter of the population living in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
As regards concerns over Iran's nuclear programme, the French diplomat said the ball was in the Iranian court.
‘Either Iran suspends its sensitive nuclear cycle... and we make positive suggestions or Iran stays closed, does not want to talk, continues its nuclear activities and the (UN) Security Council takes its responsibilities,’ he said.
Israel has come to view Iran as its chief enemy since the 2003 downfall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, alarmed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call that the Jewish state be erased from the map.
While Iran insists that its nuclear work is designed only to meet energy needs, Israel and the West suspect it is a front to develop nuclear weapons.
Israel is currently considered the only country in the Middle East to possess a nuclear arsenal, estimated at some 200 nuclear warheads, although the Jewish state has never confirmed or denied it holds such weapons.