Abbas reiterates support for anti-terror war

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in Cairo his country supports all Arab and international efforts to uproot terrorism, a media report said.

Citing MENA news agency, Xinhua reported that Abbas made the remarks during a meeting with Arab League (AL) Secretary General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit in Cairo on Saturday, which was followed by another meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

"Palestine is part of these collective efforts to fight all forms of terrorism and extremism," the Palestinian president said during his meeting with AL chief.

Abbas updated Aboul-Gheit with the recent efforts made by the Palestinian leadership to end the Israeli occupation and establish the Palestinian rights, which led the UNESCO to recently include the cities of Jerusalem and Hebron to the World Heritage List.

"The two-state solution is the only one for the Palestinian cause," said Abbas, who also briefed the AL chief of the recent US peacemaking efforts in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the latest inter-Palestinian reconciliation efforts.

Abbas later held talks with the Egyptian Foreign Minister and reiterated his country's support for the Egyptian leadership in its war against terrorism.

He expressed appreciation of Egypt's efforts to back the Palestinians in all regional and international meetings and to push for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state to live side by side with Israel based on the 1967 borders.

Abbas arrived in Cairo earlier on Saturday for talks with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on various Palestinian issues including the Israeli settlement expansion policy.

In December 2016, the United Nations Security Council endorsed a resolution demanding immediate and complete halt of Israeli settlement activities on occupied Palestinian territories.

However, the Knesset, Israel's Parliament, later approved a bill that retroactively legalizes nearly 4,000 housing units in dozens of outposts built illegally on privately owned Palestinian lands.

Israel is blamed by the international community for the deadlock of the peace process due to its settlement expansion that is rejected even by its strongest ally, the US.

"There is no plan B for the two-state solution between the Israelis and the Palestinians to resolve the Middle East conflict and achieve regional peace," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on several occasions earlier this year.

--IANS

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