Amman - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday
expressed his country's opposition to the demolition of Palestinian
houses in Jerusalem, saying the city should be the capital of both
Israel and the future Palestinian state.
'We view with real concern the proposed demolitions in East
Jerusalem,' Miliband told a press conference he jointly addressed
with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.
'Jerusalem should be the capital of the Palestinians and Israel,'
he said.
Miliband was responding to plans by Israel to demolish scores of
houses in a Jerusalem suburb that would make about 1,500 Palestinians
homeless.
The Israeli authorities alleged that the building of the houses
was illegal in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured from Jordan in
the 1967 Six-Day war and annexed, saying the city would remain the
'eternal, undivided capital' of the Jewish state.
The United Nations still consider East Jerusalem occupied
territory and both Jordan and the Palestinians insist that there
would be no peace in the region before Israel quits East Jerusalem,
allowing it to become the capital of an independent Palestinian
state.
The issue of East Jerusalem, particularly the planned building of
more settlements there by the new right-wing Israeli government, is
expected to top Miliband's talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II and
Prime Minister Nader Dahabi later in the day, officials said.
In addition, talks will also cover ways of reinvigorating peace
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, they said.
The British foreign secretary arrived in Amman earlier Thursday
for his first visit to Jordan.
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