European Union Foreign Ministers, meeting Monday in Brussels, used a working lunch to discuss the Middle East Peace Process in light of the adoption last month of UN Security Council resolution 2334 and Saturday’s French-initiated Mideast peace conference in Paris.

Preserving the viability of the two-state solution was the focus of the discussion between the 28 ministers which took place a day after the Paris conference issued a declaration reaffirming that ‘’a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, is the only way to achieve enduring peace.’’

All the EU member states were represented in the Paris conference.

In remarks at the start of the meeting in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she and EU ministers will discuss the EU’s work toward resolving the conflict, “especially trying to lay down the conditions for the parties to do their part and restart serious talks.”

In Paris, the closing statement also warned Israel and the Palestinians against taking one-sided actions that could hurt talks.

Britain was the only EU country to break ranks in the French capital as it criticized the gathering – without Israel and the Palestinians and days before a new US administration under President-elect Donald Trump- and refused to sign the joint statement.

Unlike other EU countries, the UK had sent a low-level delegation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the conference “rigged” and cooked up behind Israel’s back to force it to accept conditions against national interests.

However, Israeli diplomats also said the Paris had been significantly softened from verbiage used in UN Security Council Resolution 2334, with no direct mention made of illegal settlement building, attributing the “victory” to pressure from Jerusalem.

UNSC Resolution 2334 was adopted on December 23 and supported by 14 out of the 15 members of the Security Council.

The US abstained but did not use its veto power to block the resolution, which says Israeli settlements are in violation of international law and have no legal validity and demands an end to settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The resolution also denounced terrorism and incitement to violence.

Other topics of discussion at Monday's ministerial meeting were developments in Syria and in Lebanon.