Jordan reiterates supporting east Jerusalem as capital of Palestine

Jordan on Sunday reiterated its stance that east Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.

Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayman Safadi said Jordan and the Arabs are committed to the Arab peace initiative as key to peace and ending the conflict in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The minister made the remarks at a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri and Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization, where he stressed on Jordan's rejection of any plan to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"The Arab peace initiative is a historic opportunity to end the conflict between the Arabs and Israel," said Safadi, stressing Jordan's support to the Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Jordan will continue to exert efforts for attaining peace, he said.

The Egyptian minister said there was momentum at this stage to push the peace process forward and revive peace talks in line with the 2002 peace deal, which offers Israel normal ties with the Arabs in return for withdrawal from territories it occupied in 1967.

Erekat, for his part, stressed that Gaza Strip should be included as part of any peace deal, stressing that there is no Palestinian state in Gaza and that there is no Palestinian state without Gaza Strip.

Erekat said the Palestinian Authority will continue coordination with Jordan and Egypt, which are directly interested in the final status issues.

He also called for ending divisions among the Palestinian factions.

Prior to the press conference, Safadi met with Shukri and Erekat and discussed means to kick start effective peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The three sides underlined that the two state solution was the only viable and accepted solution to address the Palestinian issue, noting that such a solution should lead to the creation of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

In their meeting, they said the Palestinian issue was the core of conflicts in the Middle East.

A lack of a solution to the decade-long issue will lead to more tension in the region, they added.

Discussions also focused on developments in the region and the need for continued collaboration to uproot terrorism. Endit