Palestinian Leaders Opposes US Potential Transfer of Embassy to Jerusalem

Palestinian leaders said on Friday evening that they were opposed to recent statements by US Secretary of State Colin Powell that the US embassy to Israel might be transferred from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Palestinian leadership voiced their complaints in a statement issued at the end of a weekly meeting in Gaza City chaired by Palestinian National Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat Friday evening.

Jerusalem is part of the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, said the statement, adding that its status is still on the agenda of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

Powell said on Wednesday at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs that the US administration would honor its plead to transfer the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The Palestinian leadership also in the statement urged Israel's new government sworn in Wednesday to respect the Palestinian people and resume negotiations from where they were left off and on the basis of UN resolutions 242, 338 and 194 and land-for-peace principle.

Qatar Rejects Powell's Statements on Moving US Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem

Qatar on Friday voiced objection to US Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement on moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Qatar was astonished by the statement made by Powell at a hearing before the International Relations Committee of the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, the Kuwait News Agency quoted a Qatari official statement as saying.

Qatar totally rejects Powell's statement and the resolutions issued by the US congress which recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the statement said.

It added that the statement violated relevant UN resolutions and constituted a negative factor for the Middle East peace process in which the US is a co-sponsor.

Qatar has confidence in the "wisdom of the US administration of George W. Bush in treating this sensitive issue," the statement noted.

Arab countries including Qatar regard Jerusalem, which was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

The fate of Jerusalem, border, security and Palestinian refugees are the toughest issues awaiting to be solved in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.






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