Abbas warns of moving US embassy to Jerusalem

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned on Friday that moving the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would put the peace process in a real deadlock.

Abbas, who arrived in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas with the Christians who follow the eastern calendar, said "we heard many remarks related to moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and we hope that it won't happen."

He said that the entire peace process in the Middle East and even peace in the world "will be in a real deadlock" if the move is implemented, reported the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

"We say to the one who made these remarks, referring to new-elect U.S. President Donald Trump, we are inviting you to visit in Palestine, mainly in Bethlehem, next year," he added, calling changing the status of Jerusalem a "red line."

He also called on the U.S. administration to help implementing the new United Nations Security Council resolution 2334 which condemned settlement and called on Israel to halt it in the Palestinian territories, saying that the resolution is a victory to the Palestinian cause.

Abbas said that "East Jerusalem is the capital of our state and this capital is open to all religions. It is the right of all religions to practice their religious rituals freely in our eternal capital."

The international community doesn't recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel although Israel annexed the occupied eastern part of the city in 1967. The Palestinians want the eastern part as the capital of their independent state.

Speaking about France efforts to hold an international conference for peace in the Middle East in Paris on Jan. 15, Abbas hoped the conference could push the formation of an international mechanism that supervises the peace process.

source: Xinhua