BRUSSELS, January 25, 2018 (WAFA) - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Thursday said it is the responsibility of the international community, including the Council of Europe, to create the proper conditions to achieve peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

PACE said at the end of an urgent debate that “Europe should play a major role in the sponsorship and resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.”

It said the assembly will continue to promote dialogue between representatives of the Israeli Knesset and the Palestinian National Council – in particular in the framework of the Sub-Committee on the Middle East and the Arab World – making available its own experience.

PACE deplored the decision of the US President Donald Trump on 6 December 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and affirmed that “the status of Jerusalem should be decided by common agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians”, in a resolution adopted on the basis of a report by Titus Corlatean (Romania, SOC).

The Assembly reiterated its support for two legitimate aspirations, which are “Israel’s right to be recognized and live in security, and the Palestinians’ right to have an independent, viable and contiguous State”, and for a “two-State solution, based on the 1967 borders”.

The adopted text called on the Israeli authorities to stop the building of new settlements and the extension of old ones, cease all home demolitions, forced evictions and confiscation of land in the occupied territories, including in East Jerusalem.

PACE also called on Palestinian forces to conclude, without further delay, the reconciliation, already announced several times, between Fatah and Hamas, based on the Quartet principles, thus enhancing the credibility of the Palestinian side in the negotiations with Israel, and to cease support for those imprisoned following convictions for terrorist acts and their relatives.

M.H.