Jerusalem Should be Capital of Two States, Says Top EU Diplomat
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
The European Union's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said on Saturday that Jerusalem "should be the capital of two states," as tensions gripped the holy city hit by Israeli-Palestinian violence.
"I think Jerusalem can be and should be the capital of two states," Mogherini told reporters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, touching on a sensitive issue that has blocked peace efforts for decades.
Her appeal, at a joint news conference with Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah, came hours after the killing of an Arab-Israeli by police fanned tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.
The shooting in northern Israel came after another night of clashes in east Jerusalem between youths hurling stones and firecrackers at police, who retaliated with rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.
The violence has spiked as Israel has pushed ahead with its policy to build Jewish settlements on lands the Palestinians want for a future state and against the background of efforts by Jewish extremists to secure rights to pray at Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque.
"Jerusalem is not just a beautiful city, the challenge is to show that Jerusalem can be shared in peace and respect," said Mogherini.
"The message is not for the people who live here, the message is to the rest of the world," she said.
"It is not a Palestinian-Israeli situation, it is a global issue."
On Friday, Mogherini met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who dismissed her criticism of Israeli settlement building in annexed east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
"Jerusalem is our capital and as such is not a settlement," he insisted.
08 November 2014, 14:06
12
A Palestinian State enjoying its fullest sovereignty and independence is something that should have come into existence many years ago, what is everyone waiting for? Even though late, even though still shy, the EU move is a good one and in the right direction too, but do it fast, no need to wait any longer.
08 November 2014, 18:30
32
Beirut would be a good capital, since the Israelis already have plans and procedures in place for bombing it into the stone-age. Such was the opinion uttered today by the leader of Lebanon's Democratic Phalanage and Ice Cream for All Party, Generalissimo "Ralph" al Rahi, speaking from his heavily fortified basilica in surburban Paris, where he stopped by to buy some chocolate-covered caviar on his way to join his bosom buddy, Generalissim "Ralph" Hariri, for some late-summer skiing in the Swiss Alps (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Kingdom Inc.).
The two-state solution was the solution when racism was the norm. Now with civil rights the norm, majority rule is the solution.
08 November 2014, 22:22
01
texas. Dont answer this christian hater. He lives outside lebanon, and is probably frustrated from being ostrasized as an arab all the time. So he takes it out on christian lebanese, not knowing that moslem lebanese themselves prefer Christians to have more power, lest the country becomes a small version of Syria or Egypt
08 November 2014, 22:25
02
Of course Jerusalem should be the capital of two states. The only problem is that Palestinians said no so many times when they had the opportunity that they perpetuated their own misery. they should have picked up the pieces and gone on instead of constantly playing refusenik generation after generation.
09 November 2014, 07:20
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Please, comments polite and please be respect one another thank you
That is a way to start a dialogue, that is the way to rebuild a state, and relations between the citizen of this state, which is Lebanon, our country.
09 November 2014, 13:43
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Palestinian leadership never ever wanted a Palestinian State as it would mean the end of their privileges and no more easy money from the Qatar, the EU, the US and the UN.
It's is easier to keep an unrealistic warmonger rhetoric and refusal attitude to keep getting huge funds from the UNWRA or other bodies.
