The Guardian newspaper on Sunday featured a story titled, “UK signals closeness to Trump with snub to French Middle East summit.”
The newspaper reported:
The British government has signalled its determination to stay close to Donald Trump’s administration by refusing to send a high-level delegation to the Middle East peace conference organised by the French government.
Neither a Foreign Office minister, nor the UK ambassador to France, will be attending the meeting on Sunday. Most large EU countries have sent their foreign minister, and the British approach may hint at future UK policy choices. The French regard the conference as a vital chance to reaffirm the case for a negotiated two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Trump’s transition team reportedly told French diplomats they disapproved of the conference going ahead, seeing it as an attempt to put unfair pressure on Israel and give an unjustified reward to the Palestinians. The British government likely fears that the conference risks becoming a means to circumscribe future US policy on Israel before the Trump team has decided this.
Read the full story here.