The world must help resolve the Israel-Palestinian issue by backing a two-state solution to avoid the creation of an apartheid state, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Friday.

"The Palestinians are still waiting for the international community to try to resolve the Palestinian problem that has been created by the international community," with the foundation of Israel in 1948, Maliki told the MED Dialogues conference in Rome.

"Unfortunately, none of you is taking serious, credible and responsible steps to solve the problem," Maliki told the assembled European and Middle Eastern leaders.

Maliki slammed the US administration of President Donald Trump "which has really sided with Israel, taken the wrong side of history, of justice."

The Palestinians have already vowed to block Trump's peace plan and severed ties with his administration after his December decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and declare the city Israel's capital.

The Palestinians also see the city as the capital of their future state and international consensus has been that Jerusalem's status must be negotiated between the two sides.

"If the Americans are not willing to do anything, Europe should do that," Maliki said

"We should force the change to happen, that's why we are pushing for a European role," including backing an international peace conference.

"It's not our responsibility to protect the two-state solution, it's your responsibility," he said, without which Israel would continue to develop separate systems for Israelis and Palestinians, as it already does with road networks and public transport.

"I don't believe any of you will accept another apartheid regime to emerge in the 21st century," Maliki said.

Israeli parliament speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, was also attending the MED gathering and said the two sides should focus on cooperation.

"If the idea of peace process is again some theory of two courageous leaders in a room shaking hands and signing an agreement, that doesn't work," said Edelstein.

"The only way to get back to a situation where we can do something positive is cooperation in practical fields (like manufacturing or water management). We don't need a comprehensive agreement to cooperate," he said.

Related Links
Space War News

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Amnesty launches drive to track impact of US strikes
Beirut (AFP) Nov 21, 2018
Amnesty International on Wednesday launched a crowdsourcing data project using satellite imagery to assess damage from US-led coalition air strikes last year on the Syrian city of Raqa. The rights group said it expects up to 5,000 digital activists to sign up for the month-long project researching the destruction of almost 80 percent of the former jihadist bastion. Amnesty said evidence collected in field investigations since the end of the 2017 battle had led the US-led coalition to revise its ... read more