France may turn a donors' conference on a future Palestinian state set for June into a political meeting to relaunch the stalled Middle East peace process, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Wednesday.
"Our idea would be to use the donors' conference meeting at the end of June to hold a real political conference and restart the dialogue," Juppe told the French parliament's foreign affairs committee.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks in Paris on Thursday.
"How much will we be able to get him to evolve? You know the man, his character, his determination," Juppe said of Netanyahu, playing down the chances of a rapid breakthrough in the peace process.
Netanyahu is visiting Paris and London to counter Palestinian plans to seek United Nations recognition of their statehood, as peace talks remain mired in a stalemate.
Negotiations between the two sides have been on hold since late September, when a 10-month, partial Israeli construction freeze expired and Netanyahu refused to renew it.
"On the American side, there are today few initiatives," Juppe said.
"Our idea is to try a last resort initiative, so that, in the month of September, when the question of recognizing (a Palestinian state) is raised, we can say we tried everything."
Sarkozy implied in an interview with L'Express news weekly on Wednesday that France could recognize a Palestinian state later this year if the peace process cannot be restarted.
"If the peace process resumes during the summer, France will say that you have to leave the protagonists to talk without forcing the calendar," Sarkozy told the news weekly.
"If, on the other hand, the peace process is still a dead letter in September, France will assume its responsibilities on the central issue of recognizing a Palestinian state."