Paris, Dec 8 (AFP) French President Emmanuel Macronappealed for calm today after US President Donald Trump'swidely-criticised recognition of Jerusalem as Israel'scapital.
Speaking at a meeting to discuss Lebanon, Macron said thedecision should not "add to the instability of the region. I'missuing a call for calm and responsibility by everyone whichis essential for the efforts we are undertaking here."His concern was echoed by Lebanon's Prime Minister SaadHariri, who said the decision "will complicate the peaceprocess even more", adding it posed yet another challenge tothe tense Middle East.
"I can only repeat our rejection of this decision and ourcommitment to the Arab initiative for a solution based on twostates," Hariri said.
The French president's comments come as tensions soar inthe Middle East over Trump's decision, with PalestinianIslamist movement Hamas calling for a "day of rage" on Friday.
The disputed city of Jerusalem lies at the heart of theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides seeing it astheir capital.
Macron's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had earlierexpressed concern over the situation, saying there was a riskof a new intifada, or Palestinian uprising.
"The United States, which until now has been able to playa mediation role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, have nowexcluded themselves from that a little," he told France Interradio.
Washington is "isolated in this affair", he added.
Ahead of a trip to France on Sunday by Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu, Le Drian said "France can act,but it cannot act alone".
"We must pursue the necessary mediation to allow calm toreturn, so that we can commit to a negotiation process," hesaid.(AFP)AMS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.