Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed this weekend's Middle East peace conference in Paris, saying that it is "rigged."

Sunday's conference is expected to be attended by over 70 nations, and its aim is to explore ways to resume stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. However, Netanyahu's Israeli government refused to take part in the conference, although the Prime Minister has hinted that he is ready to hold bilateral talks.

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The Palestinian authority is, however, in favor of the multilateral approach, saying that years of negotiations have not ended Israel's occupation of the West Bank.

"It's a rigged conference, rigged by the Palestinians with French auspices to adopt additional anti-Israel stances," Netanyahu said on the sidelines of a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu said that the conference will not obligate Israel and that it will only serve to push peace backwards. He added that the conference is a last gasp of the past before the future sets in.

Efforts to find a lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian have stalled since a US-led initiative collapsed in April 2014.

The Paris conference comes after a landmark Dec. 23 UN Security Council resolution that called for Israel to halt settlement building in Palestinian territory. The resolution passed by a 14-0 score after the United States broke its long tradition of defending Israel and abstained from voting.

Israel is worried that Sunday's conference could produce measures that could be then taken to the UN Security Council for approval before Jan. 20, when Donald Trump is sworn in as the new US President.

Trump has signaled that he will have a more favorable policy towards Israel than Barack Obama.

Obama's administration became increasingly frustrated with Israel's settlement building in East Jerusalem and West Bank. Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967.

TagsIsrael, Palestine, Israel-Palestine