Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Paris next week on different days for talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, officials said on Friday.

France wants to play a more active role in the Middle East peace process.

Netanyahu will hold talks with Sarkozy on Nov. 11. Assad will have a working lunch at the Elysee Palace on Nov. 13.

There was no immediate indication if France had any specific proposals to break deadlock in discussions between the two countries which broke down at the end of last year after an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that killed 1434 Palestinians, a third children.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he would visit Israel and the Palestinian territories "in the coming days" but told reporters peace talks between the two sides were blocked.

He said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's announcement that he did not want to run for re-election in January did not help.

"I shall urge Mahmoud Abbas to continue obstinately his push for peace, that's to say the creation of a Palestinian state," Kouchner said.

French relations with the Netanyahu government have not been easy and a visit by Koucnher to the region last month was cancelled at the last minute without any reason given.

He also said Israel was annoyed by France's stance over a U.N. report that accused the Jewish state of scores of war crimes in Gaza.

Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a joint letter urging Netanyahu to initiate an independent inquiry into the Gaza conflict.

Reuters