Jordan hails EU statement on Jerusalem as "extremely important"

Dec 8, 2009, 21:04 GMT

Amman - Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh on Tuesday welcomed as an 'extremely important attitude' the statement by European Union foreign ministers envisioning Jerusalem as the shared capital of both Israel and a Palestinian state.

'The EU ministerial council's decision on the Middle East and Jerusalem in particular implies a landmark and extremely important attitude,' Judeh told the state-run television.

A statement issued by the EU foreign ministers in Brussels stressed that 'a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states.'

The EU foreign ministers pointed out that 'the EU will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including those with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties.'

'The EU statement in its final shape represents a very important milestone that will help relaunch serious negotiations from the point they reached and in accordance with a pre-decided timetable,' Judeh said.

'The EU attitude will help the leading US role, which seeks to accomplish the two-state solution that enjoys international consensus and provides for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.'

Earlier Tuesday, King Abdullah II flew to Paris, where he met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and warned against 'the continuation of Israel's settlement policy and unilateral actions in East Jerusalem with the aim of changing its (Arab) identity and stamp and emptying it of its Muslim and Christian inhabitants,' according to a royal court statement.

Abdullah 'underscored the importance of the EU and French role in ongoing efforts to resolve the conflict.'

Israel seized East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it later, but the United Nations still considers the holy city as an occupied territory.