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Abbas says Trump's decision won't change reality of Jerusalem

RAMALLAH, Dec 6 (KUNA) -- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday that the US President Donald Trump's decision recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will not change the reality of Jerusalem.
In a speech broadcast by the state-run TV Wednesday night, Abbas said the decision also will not give any legitimacy for Israel as Jerusalem is an Arab Muslim and Christian city, the capital of the eternal state of Palestine.
Responding to Trump's decision which recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Abbas said this is a reward to Israel for its violations to international resolutions and an encouragement for Israelis to continue their policy of occupation, settlements, apartheid and ethnic cleansing.
"We say Jerusalem is the city of peace, the city of the Al-Aqsa Mosque," he said. He added Jerusalem is the first of the two Qibla, the second mosque on earth and the third of the two Holy Mosques, and the city of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
He pointed out that the US administration has chosen to violate all international and bilateral resolutions and agreements.
He went to say that the US preferred to ignore and contradict the international consensus expressed by the positions of various countries, world leaders, spiritual leaders and regional organizations over the past few days on the subject of Jerusalem.
The Palestinian leader revealed that these measures serve extremist groups attempting to turn the conflict into a religious war in the region, which is facing critical situations amid international conflicts and endless wars.
Abbas noted that such denounced and rejected measures are a deliberate undermining of all efforts to achieve peace.
This refers to a declaration of the withdrawal of the United States from playing the role it played over the past decades as a peace broker, he explained.
He spoke about contacts conducted over the past days with leaders of friendly and sisterly countries which stressed the unified position by Arab and Muslim nations, as well as international countries towards Jerusalem and the Palestinian cause.
He said that the coming days would witness a call for various Palestinian committees and bodies to hold emergency meetings so as to follow up the latest developments due to this move. "We will call on Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council to hold an emergency session and all factions will be invited to attend in order to affirm the unified Palestinian national position and put all options before the conferees," he concluded.
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