Israeli Finance Minister calls for annexation of West Bank

East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel, must be under the control of a Palestinian state, Arab and Muslim leaders say

Arab and Muslim leaders on Monday reaffirmed their call for the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, following a summit of Arab and Muslim countries in Riyadh.

“We reaffirm the full sovereignty of the State of Palestine over East Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine and reject all Israeli measures or decisions aimed at (…) consolidating the Israeli colonial occupation of the city,” declared the leaders in their final communiqué.

These same leaders also called on Israel to completely withdraw from the Arab territories occupied since 1967 to achieve a “comprehensive” regional peace.

“A just and comprehensive peace in the region (…) cannot be obtained without putting an end to the Israeli occupation of all the occupied territories” on the basis of the borders of “June 4, 1967” – prior to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan–, in accordance with UN resolutions and the 2002 Arab peace plan stipulating that Israel must return all territories occupied since 1967 in exchange for normalization with Arab countries.