Abbas urges countries to recognize Palestine

By Gulsen Topcu

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) --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.