PARIS (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called for the resumption of long-stalled talks between the Zionist regime and the Palestinians in order to prevent simmering tensions in one of Middle East’s longest conflicts from boiling over again.
Speaking alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the presidential palace in Paris, Macron said the situation in East Al-Quds and the Palestinian territories remains “more than worrying.”
“We all know that a new spiral of violence can start at any moment,” Macron said on Wednesday.
In the short term, Macron said, that means putting an end to the Zionist regime’s unilateral measures in the occupied West Bank, including the expansion of settlements and evictions of Palestinian families from their homes. Both actions are “contrary to international law,” Macron said. He repeated his willingness to mobilize the international community in efforts that will lead to resumption of talks between Israel and the Palestinians and eventually result in a “just and lasting peace.”
Abbas emphasized that the occupying regime must stop “unilateral actions ... most importantly, the building of illegal settlements” that slice the territory the Palestinians want for their state in pieces.
Abbas was meeting with Macron in Paris after the Palestinian leader had met with U.S. President Joe Biden in the Israeli-occupied West Bank last week.