Sarkozy warns against letting Palestinian row harm the Arab Spring

French President Nicolas Sarkozy Tuesday sounded a warning over the current showdown between Israel and the Palestinians, saying it should not harm the pro-democracy Arab spring.

Speaking at a “Friends of Libya” conference at the United Nations General Assembly, Sarkozy said that with Arab states finally moving towards freedom, the world had to be “careful that 60-year-old conflicts did not poison the construction of democracy.”

Sarkozy met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to hear his strategy after the Palestinian Authority chief announced his intention to apply for full statehood at the U.N. Security Council on Friday.

Sarkozy declined to comment after the meeting.

He was speaking amid intense diplomatic efforts at the United Nations to ward off a Palestinian bid to seek full U.N. membership as a Palestinian state.

The move is sharply opposed by Israel and the United States and risks triggering a bitter confrontation, with European nations seeking to find a way to put the Middle East peace talks back on track.

“Not only does the Arab street gives us an obligation to act, but would condemn all forms of immobility,” Sarkozy said in his speech.

According to officials close to the French president, Sarkozy will focus primarily on the Palestinian-Israeli question at his opening speech at the U.N. on Wednesday.

The French president plans to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.

Pro-democracy protests have flared in many countries in the Middle East as people bid to shake off years of tyrannical, oppressive rule.

Sarkozy was speaking at a meeting at the U.N. to welcome the new, transitional leaders of Libya who ousted long-standing ruler Muammar Qaddafi in months of bitter fighting this year.