Palestine without Jerusalem as capital 'not possible'

By Eshat Firat

RAMALLAH, Palestine

A Palestinian state is not possible without East Jerusalem as its capital, the president’s office said Tuesday.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman President Mahmoud Abbas, told reporters in Ramallah that Palestine would reject any decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

“A Palestinian state without East Jerusalem as its capital is not possible,” he said, He also voiced the Palestinian administration’s opposition to recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Rudeineh’s statement came amid ongoing concerns that the U.S. intends to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Last week, U.S. media reported that U.S. President Donald Trump was mulling the imminent relocation of the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and the formal recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.

Jerusalem remains at the core of the perennial Israel-Palestine conflict, as Palestinians want Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

During his election, Trump promised to relocate the U.S. embassy from to Jerusalem.