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French FM calls Trump's Jerusalem embassy pledge "provocation"

Xinhua, January 15, 2017 Adjust font size:

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Sunday called U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to move U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem a "provocation."

When answering a question from a French TV reporter about Trump's relocation pledge and his words about seeing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the minister said "of course it's a provocation. I think he would not be able to do it."

"It would have extremely serious consequences," Ayrault warned on the sidelines of Middle East Peace Conference held in Paris.

"When you are president of the United States, you cannot take such a clear-cut, unilateral position on this issue. You have to try to create the conditions for peace," he added.

France on Sunday convened an international meeting to seek ways to revive the stranded Middle East peace negotiations and to restate the "two-state solution."

The meeting brought together representatives from about 70 countries, including the U.N. Security Council permanent members, key European countries and major Arab states.

However, neither Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas nor Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are represented in the meeting. Enditem