Russian deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin said today that Tbilisi was preparing to hold a new peace march on Tskhinvali to mark the first anniversary of the war of August 2008 in South Ossetia? What does France think of this statement and of the Georgian authorities’ intentions? Is France still prepared to act as a mediator to help ease tensions between these to nations?
We have no information on Georgian intentions to hold such a march. We call on all the parties to participate constructively in the discussions in Geneva and in the Incident Prevention Mechanism.
Has the French ambassador paid another visit to Clotilde Reiss? According to Bernard Kouchner, a visit was scheduled for Tuesday and was pushed back to Wednesday. Did it take place? If not, has a new date been set, and why hasn’t it taken place yet?
Our ambassador has not paid another visit to Clotilde Reiss.
We are continuing to ask the Iranian authorities to grant us our right to visit in accordance with their international obligations and as they had promised.
We maintain that Clotilde Reiss’s detention is unjustified and must be ended immediately, as the EU reminded Tehran in a démarche by the Swedish presidency heading the European Troika.
Can you say whether the Israeli ambassador, who was summoned to the Quai d’Orsay, did appear at the Foreign Ministry, whom he met with, and what was said on both sides?
As Bernard Kouchner announced the day before yesterday, Israel’s ambassador to France appeared this morning at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs to be reminded of our position on settlements and free movement by the director general of political affairs.
An immediate freeze on settlements, including in East Jerusalem, is indeed essential to safeguarding the two-state solution and making it possible to credibly revive negotiations. All the parties must respect the commitments undertaken pursuant to the road map.
As for questions of access and movement, notably in Gaza, the situation cannot remain as it is: Israel must regularly open crossing points to allow the rebuilding of Gaza and a return to normal life.
This meeting provided an opportunity to reiterate our concern over the obstacles to free movement that our diplomats have been encountering for several months in the Palestinian Territories, and the need for Israeli security forces to respect international law as it applies to diplomatic and consular employees./.