In a telephone call tonight, French President Emmanuel Macron affirmed to President Mahmoud Abbas France’s unyielding support for peace in the Middle East based on the two state-solution as per international law and France’s readiness to continue its efforts to achieve this goal.
For his part, President Abbas reiterated his call for holding an international peace conference and his readiness to go to negotiations on the basis of United Nations resolution under the auspices of the International Quartet.
President Abbas stressed during this telephone conversation the need for everyone to respect religions and religious symbols and not allow anything offensive to Prophet Muhammad and all prophets and religions while condemning all those who do so. He stressed at the same time his rejection of extremism, violence and terrorism, wherever it came from and in whatever form.
Macron, on the other hand, expressed his respect for Islam and the Islamic world, stressing that he did not intend to offend Islam and Muslims and that he distinguished between terrorism and extremism, on one hand, and Islam and the Islamic world, on the other.
President Abbas corroborated the explanations President Macron has mentioned in his call.
