Netanyahu to visit France for first ever meeting with Hollande

PanARMENIAN.Net - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Paris next week for his first ever meeting with French President Francois Hollande, according to The Jerusalem Post.

This will be Netanyahu’s 12th visit to Europe, and his third to France since taking office in 2009. In addition to meeting Hollande, Netanyahu is scheduled to visit Toulouse and the Jewish school where a terrorist killed four people in March.

France is a member of the P5+1 conducting negotiations with Iran – along with the US, Russia, China, Germany and Britain – and Tehran’s nuclear program is expected to be at the center of the discussions with Hollande.

In addition, the two are expected to discuss the stalemated diplomatic process with the Palestinians, as well as the PA’s bid to gain the status of a non-member observer state at the UN.

Netanyahu’s visit to Paris will come just a few days after he meets EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who he is scheduled to arrive Wednesday in Jerusalem.

Those talks, too, are expected to focus on Iran and the Palestinian issue.

Ashton arrived in Jordan Monday on the first leg of a five-day visit to the Middle East. On Tuesday she will travel to Beirut, before coming to Israel on Wednesday.

In addition to meeting Netanyahu, she is also scheduled to meet President Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. She is also expected to meet PA President Mahmoud Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.