Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah says he welcomes a French initiative aimed at restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. France will  host an international meeting at the end of this month to discuss moving the peace process forward.

"We count with this initiative; we hope that we can see new parameters, new peace parameters, talking about - for instance - all UN resolutions, including 242, 338 to be applied. Why did they not apply (them) actually? So we're looking forward for (an) international peace conference which will be hosted by France and I hope other countries and we hope that new parameters will be set for future negotiations; like, for instance, setting a timetable for these negotiations," Hamdallah said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the initiative. But French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault says an Israeli-Palestinian peace process is imperative to prevent the spread of deadly Islamist violence. The last round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, mediated by the US, collapsed in 2014.