'Mideast conflict must end with Palestinian state'

Any resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict must ensure that East Jerusalem is the capital of an independent Palestinian state, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Friday.

Abu Rudeineh was responding to reports in the Israeli media that the U.S. administration was on the verge of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocating the U.S. embassy to the city.

“The failure to find a solution to the Palestine issue will keep the region -- and world -- in a state of tension, chaos and violence,” he said in a statement quoted by Palestine’s official WAFA news agency.

“East Jerusalem and its holy places is the beginning and end of any solution and the only approach that will save the region from destruction,” the spokesman asserted.

“Only international legitimacy, foremost of which is the [UN] General Assembly decision to recognize the state of Palestine and the illegitimacy of [Israeli] settlements, will create the appropriate climate to solve the problems of the region and rebalance Arab-American relations,” he said.

“President Mahmoud Abbas is still committed to a just peace based on a two-state solution in accordance with international resolutions and based on the [2002] Arab peace initiative,” he added.

Abu Rudeinah went on to stress that the region was facing “difficult choices”.

“The peoples of the region and their countries should adhere to their national principles in the face of these serious challenges, which affect the essence of Arab existence,” he said.

Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in 1967. Currently, some 200,000 Jewish settlers live in East Jerusalem, with another 400,000 in the West Bank.

The Palestinians, for their part, hope to eventually establish an independent state of their own in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.