JERICHO, August 13, 2011 (WAFA) – The world should respond to Israel’s settlement policy in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly in East Jerusalem, by supporting the Palestinian bid to gain United Nations recognition of a state in September, Saturday said PLO executive committee member, Saeb Erekat

He called on the international community to support the Palestinians’ September bid, which he said should come in response to the Israeli decision to build thousands of housing units in East Jerusalem settlements.

'All countries, including the United States, must respond to the Israeli policies by supporting peace through helping the PLO gain full membership of the UN of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital,' he said.

“The Israeli government is supporting settlements, not peace, and it is destroying the peace process and the two-state solution,” he said.

Erekat’s statements came after holding separate meetings at his Jericho office with UN special coordinator for the peace process, Robert Serry, and the commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Filippo Grandi.

R.Q./M.A.