The Middle East peace process is entering a period of "deconstruction" as a result of the upsurge of violence between Israel and the Palestinians, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said Thursday.
"There is a totally different dynamic at work in the two camps, and I fear that our calls for dialogue will bear little fruit," he told foreign journalists at a meeting in Paris.
"We will be forced to enter a phase of what I call deconstruction, in which all we can do is limit the damage, prepare for the future and keep open the possibility of a return to dialogue."
The start of a new session of Israel's parliament, the Knesset, and the end of the mandate of President Bill Clinton in the United States were "not exactly favorable elements," Vedrine said.
"We are entering a period of unilateral decision-making. The negotiated peace process is at a halt. But inevitably dialogue will one day have to resume," he said.
Some 140 people have been killed and 4,000 injured -- the vast majority Arabs -- in the violent unrest of the past four weeks – PARIS (AFP)
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