BERLIN, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that Germany does not support U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel.
"The Federal Government does not support this attitude because the status of Jerusalem is to be negotiated within the framework of a two-state solution," spokesperson Steffen Seibert said on Twitter on behalf of Merkel.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump announced that he formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, while ordering to immediately begin the process of relocating the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
During his presidential campaign, Trump pledged to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Although the U.S. Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995 which required the relocation of the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, former U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, consistently renewed a presidential waiver to delay the relocation out of consideration for national security interests.
Earlier, the Palestinian authorities have reiterated their stance that there will be no sovereign state of Palestine without East Jerusalem as its capital.
The status of Jerusalem remains one of the core issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So far, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and no foreign countries base their embassies in the city.
