RAMALLAH, December 2, 2017 (WAFA) - Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said on Friday that United States recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem are “equally dangerous to the future of the peace process and would take the region into the square of instability.”

Abu Rudeineh was responding to reports that US President Donald Trump is thinking of recognizing Jerusalem as capital of Israel while other reports said he might move the US embassy to Jerusalem. Either step would violate international law that does not recognize Israel’s hold over the holy city.

The presidential spokesman had earlier said that “East Jerusalem, with its holy places, is the start and the end for any solution that would save the region from destruction.”

He stressed that any just solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict should ensure that East Jerusalem is the capital of the independent Palestinian state, adding that “failure to reach a solution to the Palestinian issue will prolong the state of tension, chaos and violence that are prevalent in the region and the world.”

He said that United Nations General Assembly recognition of the State of Palestine on November 29, 2012 and its Security Council resolution that deemed all Israeli settlements illegal “will create the appropriate environment to solve the problems of the region and rebalance in Arab-American relations.”

Abu Rudeineh said President Mahmoud Abbas remains committed to a just peace based on the two-state solution and in accordance with international and Arab resolutions, particularly the Arab peace initiative.

He stressed that the region is facing difficult choices and the crises of the region are coming up to a difficult test, adding that the peoples of the region and its countries should adhere to the national constants to face these serious challenges that affect the essence of the entire Arab existence.

M.K.