The US will join the international community in Paris on Sunday in a new push for peace in the Middle East, just five days before Donald Trump, who has vowed unstinting support for Israel, takes office.
Foreign ministers and representatives from around 70 countries will seek to revive the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which could be dealt a further blow if Trump implements a campaign pledge to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Neither Israel nor the Palestinians will be represented at the conference and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the talks as “rigged” against the Jewish state.
The Palestinians, in contrast, have welcomed France’s bid for the conference to reaffirm global support for a two-state solution to the seven-decade-old conflict.
Peace efforts have been at a standstill since April 2014.
On Saturday, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas warned that acute tensions could boil over again if Mr Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“Any attempts at legitimising the illegal Israeli annexation of the city will destroy the prospects of any political process, bury the hopes for a two-state solution, and fuel extremism in our region, as well as worldwide,” Abbas said during a visit to the Vatican.
Read the full article by AFP at The Australian.