France urges Trump not to move US Embassy to Jerusalem

“To effectively assist in propelling the peace process, the global community must refrain from singling out Israel; it must urge the Palestinians to drop their preconditions and return to the negotiating table”.

Netanyahu has snubbed Sunday’s conference as “rigged” against Israel, and Trump’s incoming administration isn’t taking part.

Neither Israel nor the Palestinians were represented at the conference, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as “futile“.

“Let’s see where we are next Tuesday, the main event now is Sunday’s conference in Paris”. According to Jarai: “We are in a one-state solution since 1967, after the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza strip”.

Spokesman Mark Toner said the the USA did not “want to see anything that attempts to impose a solution on Israel”.

Conference participants are expected to call for the establishment of a Palestinian state as the “only way” to ensure peace.

The U.S. embassy is now in Tel Aviv.

He also said Palestinians may consider “reversing recognition” of Israel if Mr Trump goes ahead with the move. These actions could include a UNSC resolution, a UNSC presidential statement, or a UNSC press statement attempting to impose some of the parameters of a final agreement on Israel regarding a future Palestinian state.

“When you are president of the United States, you can not take such a clear-cut, unilateral position on this issue”.

French President Francois Hollande agreed on the need for direct talks.

What will replace the two-state solution framework as laid out by the Oslo Accords is unclear, but the indications from the Trump administration are worrisome.

Last June, France hosted an worldwide meeting – attended by more than two dozen Western and Arab countries – searching for a new strategy to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, which have been all but dead for over two years.

François Hollande, the French president, defended the conference from those who said it was worthless, saying his efforts were not naïve and adding “there would be nothing more cynical than to do nothing to bring two parties together to end the region’s oldest conflict”.

The conference was mainly symbolic, but comes at a crucial juncture for the Middle East, five days before Trump is sworn in as president.

For the United States to move its embassy to Jerusalem then would be controversial as it could be viewed as de facto recognition of Israel’s claim.

Israel reacted with fury after the United States refrained from using its veto at the council, allowing the anti-settlements resolution to be adopted by a vote of 14-0.

“I have to say that this conference is among the last remnants of the world of yore”.

The Obama administration’s eight years of unsuccessful Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy will come to a crashing end this weekend, with chances for a Mideast peace deal at perhaps their lowest ebb in a generation. It’s a message to Israel, the occupying power, to abide by global law and worldwide humanitarian law and to end its military occupation of Palestine towards the achievement of peace and stability in the region and the world.

Tensions have spiralled recently following a wave of Palestinian attacks and inflammatory rhetoric on both sides. Their proposal is a two state solution for Israelis and Palestinians based on the 1967 borders but with adjustments for “Israel’s security and demographic needs”.