Al-Maliki: A ceasefire in Gaza is not enough

Follow-up - INA

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki warned that declaring a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is not sufficient to ease the existing tensions between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Al-Maliki told reporters on the sidelines of a special meeting of the United Nations General Assembly regarding the latest developments in the conflict in the Middle East that declaring a truce on the Gaza Strip is a positive step that will allow two million Palestinians to sleep in peace, but it is "not at all sufficient" and the world must now deal with the complex issues related to the future of Jerusalem. And the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

The Palestinian foreign minister clarified that the truce between Israel and the "Hamas" movement that controls the Gaza Strip does not address the "basic problem" that resulted in the outbreak of the new round of escalation, which is the issue of Jerusalem.

Al-Maliki accused the Israeli soldiers and settlers of "desecrating" the Al-Aqsa Mosque, condemning the Israeli forced eviction measures against a number of Palestinian families in various parts of the city, including the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

The minister held Israel responsible for seeking to erase the multicultural and religious identity of the city of Jerusalem, saying, "We oppose this and reject that, and we will continue to work to prevent this from happening."

Al-Maliki pointed out that the normalization of relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries did not lead to raising the issues of the future of Jerusalem and the establishment of a Palestinian state, adding: "On the contrary, we see today that the Palestinian issue and the Jerusalem issue represent the two most important issues for Muslims and Arabs in the world .. We want to see Palestinian free and lives in an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. "

Source: Russia Today