French Leader to Visit Israel, Palestinian Territories

French President Francois Hollande will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories by the end of the year, the country's foreign minister said Tuesday, as a drive to reach a Middle East peace deal gathers pace.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are currently in Washington as part of a fresh U.S.-led initiative to negotiate a peace deal between the two sides after a three-year hiatus.

Speaking to reporters, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius welcomed the peace drive and said he would be going to Israel and to the Palestinian territories in early September.

"The president will go at the end of the year," he added.

Fabius said France was "pinning hope" on negotiations currently taking place between Israeli Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erakat.

"We know they will be extremely difficult," he said.

He pointed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge to put a peace deal to a referendum, if one was reached.

"An accord not only has to be reached but the (Israeli) people must accept it," he said.

U.S. leader Barack Obama on Tuesday met with Livni and Erakat, who themselves held bilateral talks earlier in the day.

Israel and the Palestinians remain deeply divided over issues such as the fate of Jerusalem, claimed by both as a capital, the right of return for Palestinian refugees, and the borders of a future Palestinian state complicated by dozens of Jewish settlements scattered across the occupied West Bank.