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UK minister: East Jerusalem is not part of Israel

BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (KUNA) -- Alan Duncan, UK Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, rejected Monday the announcement by the US administration that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel.
"We don't agree with the announcement that Jerusalem is the capital. In particular Jerusalem is divided between East and West and East Jerusalem is certainly not part of Israel. I will say this very clearly this morning," he told reporters ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On his part, Belgian foreign minister Didier Reynders said "we are determined to keep working for a two-states solution and we need to discuss this today with President Netanyahu and in January with President Abbas." "I hope we can have a very open discussion about the status of Jerusalem but also about the need to stop the settlements and the destruction of humanitarian infrastructures," he said. Reynders hoped that Netanyahu would be committed to go into a real dialogue and be ready to make some concessions.
"So we hope that today will be maybe the beginning of a real dialogue and of a bigger role for the EU in this dialogue," he added. (end) nk.mb