Palestinian PM: Independent state likely

Gaza, April 04: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad says Palestinians are determined to establish an independent state with Jerusalem (al-Quds) as its capital by next year.

“Our people, joined by all humanity, will celebrate the creation of the Palestinian independent state on all the 1967 borders, a state whose capital shall be al-Quds,” Ynet quoted Fayyad as saying at the end of Easter celebrations in Beit Lahm (Bethlehem).

“We are determined to reach a safe haven and freedom and are continuing to work on establishing state institutions and infrastructure,” Fayyad added.

He said the Palestinians “are continuing to work on establishing state institutions and infrastructure.”

“The Palestinian state is being built these days brick by brick, step by step and we continue to broaden services for our people to fortify its standing, especially in the areas which have been damaged by the fence and the settlements,” said the premier.

Israel took East Al-Quds along with the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed the city in defiance of the international community.

Tel Aviv has so far refused to heed international calls for a complete freeze in illegal settlement activities, which violate the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 446, 452 and 465.

It claims the holy city as its “eternal, indivisible” capital, while the Palestinian Authority wants the implementation of the UN resolutions, which assigns the Palestinians control of the eastern part of the city.

——–Agencies