Peace ‘a strategic goal’ of Palestinians, says Abbas
Palestinian leader ‘wants to emphasize respect for Judaism,’ backs keeping Jerusalem open to all monotheistic faiths
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that peace is a strategic goal of the Palestinians, who are committed to a two-state solution.
Abbas was speaking in the West Bank town of Bethlehem where he was meeting visiting Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who has also met with Israeli leaders and paid his respects at the grave of Shimon Peres.
“We reiterate here that peace is our strategic goal and is in the interest of all parties,” Abbas said at a joint press conference, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
“The key to peace is in ending the Israeli occupation and in lifting the injustice faced by our people so that the two states, Palestine and Israel, can live in security, stability, peace and good neighborly relations,” he added.
Abbas said he was ready for a two-state solution based on the Arab Peace Initiative and on United Nations resolutions. He also voiced support for an international peace conference proposed by France and due to be held before the end of the year.
The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians has been dormant since the collapse of a US-led initiative in April 2014.
Abbas added that recent decisions by UNESCO pertaining to Jerusalem were aimed at protecting the global human heritage and condemning Israel’s attempts to change the character and identity of Arab East Jerusalem.
He asserted that Israeli claims confusing religion with heritage were inappropriate.
“I want to emphasis here our respect for Judaism,” he said. “We have always called for keeping Jerusalem open for worship to followers of the three monotheistic religions – Christianity, Judaism and Islam.”
“What we condemn is the Israeli violations and settler attacks against our people and their holy places,” he said.
The United Nations’ cultural body passed two resolutions, a week apart, in which it referred to the Temple Mount compound solely by its Muslim names, Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, and defined it only as “a Muslim holy site of worship.” It also accused Israel of various violations at the holy site.
After the second resolution passed on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recalled Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Carmel Shama-Hacohen to protest the fact that the resolutions ignore Jewish and Christian ties to Jerusalem’s holy sites.
