French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron came out against efforts to unilaterally recognize the State of Palestine. Speaking to France's Radio J, Macron broke with the government policy and said unilaterally recognising Palestine "would not serve anyone" and claimed the move would "create instability", reports Haaretz.
"The key is recognizing two states in the area, with diplomatic balance work to build peace," Macron said. "If France commits to unilateral recognition of Palestinian we are contributing to an imbalance and will weaken France's ability to play a role in regional stability and in this conflict."
Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen clung on as frontrunners in France's tight presidential race on Tuesday, but the unpredictable outcome is pushing some pollsters to calculate the most extreme runoff scenarios.
In a new twist in the two-round election, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a far-left veteran who for most of the campaign has been dismissed as a distant no-hoper, has surged into the top four and lies just a few percentage points behind the leaders.
Though some commentators see Melenchon's challenge as a blip that may fade, his rise has injected further uncertainty into the outcome of the race for the Elysée, in which Macron has largely been seen as the favourite.
Some investors are even weighing up the possibility of Mélenchon making it into the second round against Le Pen, a clash between two far-left and far-right arch-rivals that would stand French politics on its head.
The turbulent presidential campaign has grown increasingly bitter in recent weeks as candidates eye the finishing line.
With the first round of voting due on April 23rd, when a field of 11 candidates will be whittled down to two, Macron and conservative rival François Fillon, who are each fighting for centre-right votes, sniped at each other's programmes.
Fillon, a former prime minister who has been holding onto the third place in polls despite a scandal over payments of public funds to his family that has hurt his campaign, called Macron a liar.
Macron responded on Sud Radio: "Mr Fillon is a man of little worth."