Netanyahu Ready to Meet With Abbas 'Anytime'

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to meet with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas "anyplace and anytime," an Israeli government official said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Last week, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius tried to arrange a meeting in Paris between Netanyahu and Abbas, in an effort to ease recent tensions in the decades-long conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis.

The talks between the conflicting parties will not take place immediately as "the Palestinians have refused such a meeting" when the French foreign ministry contacted Abbas' office, the senior Israeli official was quoted by the Jerusalem Post as saying on Tuesday.

The decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict is a continuation of an ancient cultural and religious struggle. Palestinians seek recognition for their independent state, proclaimed in 1988, on the territories of West Bank, as well as East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government denies Palestine's claims, refusing to recognize the State of Palestine as an independent diplomatic entity.

The latest wave of tensions between the sides renewed in September as Israel announced plans to revise the status quo at Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is home to Islam’s third holiest site, the Al-Aqsa Mosque.