Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday urged Mahmoud Abbas to remain at his post as president of the Palestinian Authority, the presidential office in Paris said. In a phone call, Sarkozy "encouraged Abbas to continue his action in the service of the Palestinians and of peace and assured him of France's active support for a real relaunch of the peace process," Sarkozy's office said in a press statement.
The 74-year-old Abbas said last week that he would not seek a second term of office in elections scheduled for January 24, and insisted that his decision was "not debatable."
The conversation between Sarkozy and Abbas took place one day before the French president was scheduled to hold talks in Paris with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The discussion between the two men promises to be tense. On Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said there existed "a real political disagreement" between Sarkozy and Netanyahu regarding settlement activity.
"We continue to think that a freeze on settlements - that is, no settlement construction during (peace) talks - is absolutely indispensable," Kouchner told France Inter radio.
Kouchner also said that it appeared to him that Israel no longer had aspirations for peace. "It appears to me, and I hope I'm wrong, that this aspiration has disappeared as if no one believed in it any longer," he said.
