President Mahmoud Abbas (right) with  his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the press conference in Ramallah. (WAFA photo/Osama Falah) 

RAMALLAH, May 9, 2017 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated on Tuesday his commitment to a just peace based on international resolutions, the two-state solution and the pursuit of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

This came as Abbas received his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the presidential headquarters in Ramallah where both leaders discussed the latest developments in the region, including Abbas’s recent visit to the US and his meeting with the President Donald Trump.

“We reaffirm our commitment to peace based on justice, international legitimacy and the two-state solution, the pursuit of an independent and sovereign state of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and living side by side with the State of Israel in security, peace and good-neighborly relations,” Abbas said during a press conference with Steinmeier.

Abbas said he briefed his German counterpart “on all that are doing to bring freedom and independence to our Palestinian people, particularly our meeting last week with President Trump, who answered our invitation and whom we look forward to meeting in Bethlehem. We told him of our readiness to work with him and to meet the Israeli prime minister under his supervision for the same of making peace, just as we told him that that we will work him in full partnership to fight terrorism and extremism in our region.”

The president said he was keen to reunite the Palestinian people and land by ending the division, as well as enable the national consensus government to be in charge of all aspects of life in the Gaza Strip.

The two leaders also discussed the regional situation and the need to resolve all disputes through dialogue and peaceful means.

Steinmeier, on his part, stressed his continued efforts to build the Palestinian state and its institutions, build the Palestinian civil police and provide support for infrastructure projects to improve living conditions of Palestinians, especially in the Israeli-controlled Area C of the occupied West Bank.

He said that the people and government of Germany are interested in continuing to provide assistance to build the institutions of the Palestinian state, pointing out support for the construction of a school in the village of Qubeiba, west of Ramallah, work on which will be completed by the end of this year.

He stressed that only a two-state solution of Palestine and Israel can be negotiated. He said the US recently established contacts between the two sides, and this will lead to new meetings in the region.

M.N./M.K.