CAIRO, The Middle East will not witness peace without resolving the question of Jerusalem, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday.
Abbas, addressing the emergency session of the Arab Parliament by video, re-stressed that Jerusalem “is the eternal capital of the (aspired) state of Palestine. “It is the key to peace and security and stability in the region and the world.” Abbas said Israel has been trying to neglect the 2002 Arab peace initiative, affirming that Israel must first withdraw from the Arab territories it occupied in 1967 before putting other issues on the table.
He branded as “state terrorism” the current Israeli attacks on Gaza, adding that the Israeli forces “have been waging brutal attacks on civilians, intentionally bombarding houses and installations with people inside them as well as demolishing the infrastructure.” Israeli forces have been “killing children, the elderly and women and such acts are state terrorism practiced by the Israeli occupation state and are war crimes punishable by the international law,” he added.
Abbas pledged to prosecute the Israeli officials responsible for these crimes at international courts.
The Palestinian president added that he expressed to the US Administration full readiness to cooperate within framework of the International Quartet. “Accordingly, we are peace seekers and not war mongers.” He also pledged to keep up the struggle for attaining rights of the Palestinian people, particularly in Jerusalem.
Source: Kuwait News Agency