French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to Riyadh on Tuesday to boost efforts to break the impasse of the Middle East peace process and try to resume the stalled peace talks.
After bustling talks with Israeli, Palestinian and Syrian leaders in the past week, France now starts seeking to mediate the Mideast peace process on site.
In Amman, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has held talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, trying to persuade him to abandon
unilateral declaration of an independent state and not to quit next year's general elections.
He also urged the Palestinians and Israelis to resume negotiations from where it stopped rather than from "zero point," and reaffirmed France's support for "a viable Palestinian state."
Abbas said earlier that only the Israelis freeze building settlements in the West Bank could he agree to restart the stalled peace talks.
Being dissatisfied with the ignorance of its stance, the Palestinians said they intended to seek the recognization of the UN Security Council for a Palestnine state in a move aimed at pressuring Israel amid floundering
U.S. efforts to revive peace negotiations.
Kouchner was scheduled to meet with Israeli President Shimon Peres and opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. He had clearly asked Israel to "freeze" its settlement expansion in the West Bank.
Sarkozy's two-day visit to Saudi Arabia also aims to "relaunch negotiations" which is "constructive and favorable to peace," according to a press briefing of the French Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
During Netanyahu's visit to Paris last week, Sarkozy proposed that Israel and Syria restart negotiations on the Middle East peace process.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was also informed of the idea during his stay in France, but he doubted whether Israel was truly interested in the peace process.
Speaking of a Middle East peace conference in Paris, the French Foreign Ministry confirmed the proposal made by Sarkozy last August.
"It is not only about the security and stability of the region, but also the future of the people who live in the region as well as the
development of the region," the ministry said.