Abbas and Macron
Abbas and MacronReuters

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday assured Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas that he would clearly convey the Palestinians’ position, as well as clarify America’s plans for peace negotiations, in an upcoming meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, i24news reported.

During a telephone conversation with Abbas, Macron reiterated that his country's position is to support the peace process between Israel and the PA, on the basis of the European position, which supports a two-state solution.

Following the phone conversation, Abbas declared that the PA would not allow Trump to declare Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“We will not allow Trump or anyone else to say that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, and we will fight and we are now fighting this decision from the beginning. We will not allow any country to transfer its embassy to Israel,” the PA chairman said, according to i24news.

Abbas has refused to consider the Trump administration an honest broker for negotiations since President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December.

PA officials have repeatedly rejected the Trump administration’s peace proposal, which has yet to be formally presented, claiming it was coordinated with Israel.

Macron has been trying to persuade Abbas not to reject Trump as a mediator. Abbas, for his part, was planning to bypass the U.S. and Israel altogether, by asking EU foreign ministers to recognize a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 territories with eastern Jerusalem as its capital.