PA reaffirms East Jerusalem part of occupied Palestinian territories

RAMALLAH, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The PAlestinian Authority (PA) reaffirmed on Tuesday that East Jerusalem is PArt of the PAlestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967 and the eternal capital of the state of PAlestine.

The PA made the remarks at a press conference in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said earlier on Tuesday that the whole city is the eternal capital of Israel built by the Jews 3,000 years ago.

According to Israeli media outlets, Netanyahu's remarks were made during a ceremony to sign an agreement with the Israeli municiPAlity of Jerusalem to build 23,000 housing units in the city within the coming five years.

"The actions of deepening settlement and Judaizing the eastern PArt of Jerusalem and its suburbs are totally condemned and all types of settlement is totally illegal," said the statement.

The statement accused the United States of its complete biased positions to the occuPAtion and its policies "are encouraging Israel to carry on with its Jewish settlement in Jerusalem and around its holy places."

The statement called on the international community to break its silence and to promote its positions from condemnation throughout leaflets and statements to practical actions by the UN resolution.

The PAlestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the independent PAlestinian state, while Israel insists that unified Jerusalem is the eternal capital of the state of Israel.

The issue of Jerusalem is one of the thorny issues in the peace negotiations between the two sides that had been stalled since 2014 after they went on for nine months and were sponsored by the United States.