Amman - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Tuesday urged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to stay in office, saying his leadership of the Palestinian people was indispensable to the success of the peace process with Israel. "France wants President Mahmoud Abbas to stay in his post, because there will be no peace process without him," Kouchner - who met with Abbas in Amman - told a press conference he jointly addressed with the Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat.
Abbas said last week that he was considering resigning as president after Israel failed to freeze settlement activity in East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, which the Jewish state captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
He pointed out that the cessation of all settlement building was a prerequisite for the Palestinian side to return to the negotiating table.
Kouchner urged the Palestinians and Israelis to resume the negotiations "from the point they reached and not from the zero point," and said talks should lead to the setting up of "a viable Palestinian state."
Erekat condemned Israel's new plan to build 900 housing units in East Jerusalem. Jerusalem officials announced the new homes would be built in Gilo, which lies in territory seized by the Israelis in the 1967 war and later annexed. The international community does not recognize Gilo or East Jerusalem as part of Israel.
