Abbas urges countries to recognize Palestine

By Gulsen Topcu

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday called on all countries to recognize Palestine and to force Israel to stop building illegal settlements.

A written message from Abbas was read at the EU-Arab Summit held in the Greek capital, Athens.

In his message, Abbas said: "Israel continues [efforts] to remove the two-state solution and to prevent a Palestinian state with its illegal settlement construction."

He underlined the "right of Palestinian people" to establish a state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980, claiming it as the Jewish state’s “undivided and eternal capital” -- a move never recognized by the international community.

International law views the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement construction there as illegal.