The Chancellor believes that the status of Jerusalem should be negotiated as part of a two-state solution, tweeted federal government spokesperson Steffen Seibert. This was a response to the announcement of President Donald Trump that the USA would be moving its Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel has stated that she does not support the decision to move the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. On Wednesday (6 December) President Donald Trump announced that he was officially recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that the process of moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem would now begin.
In the eyes of the German government, the Middle East conflict can only be resolved on the basis of a two-state solution, which must be negotiated by the two parties to the conflict. An agreement of this sort would also decide on the status of Jerusalem. The final status under international law of the city of Jerusalem must be determined by the two parties to the conflict.
Until an agreement of this sort is reached, all sides should avoid taking any steps that are likely to exacerbate the existing tensions and make it even more difficult to resolve the conflict peacefully. As Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel has said, the status of Jerusalem is an issue that "even in good times, when the United States of America brokered a peace agreement, was factored out of the agreement".
Sigmar Gabriel reaffirmed that the status of Jerusalem must be decided "at the very end of the process by the Palestinians and the Israelis". He stressed that Germany will not be moving its Embassy.