Egypt's president warns moving U.S. embassy to Jerusalem would "complicate Mideast situation"

CAIRO, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi warned on Tuesday that the U.S.-intended relocation of embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would "complicate the situation in the Middle East region," the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.

Sisi's remarks were made during a phone call he received from U.S. President Donald Trump where they addressed the U.S. decision intended to be made over recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital city and moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to the disputed holy city, Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in the statement.

"President Sisi reiterated Egypt's fixed position regarding preserving the legal situation of Jerusalem within relevant international references and UN resolutions," he added.

Sisi also stressed the necessity to avoid complicating the situation in the region via procedures that "would undermine chances for peace in the Middle East," according to the statement.

The talks came one day before Trump is supposed to make a decision regarding his country's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, as reported earlier by the U.S. media.

Also on Tuesday, Cairo-based Al-Azhar, the most prestigious Islamic learning institution in the Sunni Muslim world, warned that the U.S. possible embassy relocation would "stir up Muslims' sentiments of anger, threaten world peace and promote tension, division and hatred across the world."

Over the past couple of days, the Arab League similarly warned that such a U.S. decision, if made, would have serious repercussions on security and stability in the Middle East region.

Egypt and Israel reached a U.S.-sponsored peace treaty in 1979, after which Egypt started working on reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and brokering intra-Palestinian reconciliation.

Cairo hosted in October the signing of a reconciliation agreement between rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas to end their long-time rift and enable a unity government to take over and have full control of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The reconciliation deal has not yet been fully implemented, with both Hamas and Fatah exchanging blame for deliberate delay.

The decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict emerged since the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the Western-backed creation of Israel in 1948.

Israel is blamed by the international community for the deadlock of the peace process due to its settlement expansion policy, which is rejected even by its strongest ally, the United States.

The Palestinians seek to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital in the light of the UN-proposed two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders. Enditem