Roundup: Int'l diplomats reject Israeli annexation plans

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JERICHO, West Bank, June 23 (Xinhua) -- International diplomats have rejected an Israeli plan to annex parts of the West Bank, saying it undermines the vision of a two-state solution.

The remarks were made on Monday during a mass rally that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Movement organized in the West Bank town of Jericho, to reject the Israeli plan, with the participation of diplomats from 48 countries.

Nickolay Mladenov, the UN peace envoy to the Middle East, said at the rally that "the Israeli annexation plan contradicts international law and will undermine the dream of peace and establishing a Palestinian state."

He called on the international community "to move as quickly as possible and exert every possible effort to rescue the peace process through peace talks that end with the establishment of a Palestinian state."

"Over the past 25 years, the international community worked on establishing a Palestinian state that late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had put as his basis," said Mladenov.

He also called for unity among the Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem.

Sven Kuhn Von Burgdsroff, the representative of the European Union in Palestine, renewed the EU's rejection of the Israeli annexation plan.

"The EU doesn't recognize any Israeli sovereignty on the Palestinian Territories occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem," he stressed.

He added that "any annexation process or any unilateral steps will create irreparable consequences, and directly undermine the two-state solution based on negotiations."

"The Union closely monitors the consequences of these plans, and confirms that in the case of any annexation, the relations between the EU and Israel will be affected," he said.

Burgdsroff called on Israel to abide by international law and work immediately on ending all settlement activities in the occupied territories and other violations.

Russian Ambassador to the State of Palestine Gocha Buachidze said that the Israeli annexation plan "will undermine the peace process and implementing it will block the possibilities of establishing an independent Palestinian state."

"The situation needs immediate resumption of the negotiations under the mandate of the United Nations to reach a comprehensive solution based on the UN resolutions and the 2002 Arab peace initiative," said Buachidze.

Salem al-Omeiri, the ambassador of Oman to the State of Palestine, called on the international community to back the Palestinian people and "stop all illegal Israeli behaviors."

"The Sultanate of Oman highly appreciates the Palestinian people's peaceful struggle to stop all the Israeli plans of annexation and settlement on the Palestinian Territories occupied in 1967," said al-Omeiri.

Meanwhile, Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee, said that "just peace can only be achieved by ending the occupation and establishing the state of Palestine on 1967 borders."

"The world has today sent a message of support for the Palestinians and said that Israel and the American Administration, are alone in facing international law and you should end the occupation and reject annexation," said Erekat.

Thousands of Palestinians joined the mass rally, alongside PLO and Fatah leaders and dozens of international diplomats. Palestinian participants held banners against Israeli annexation. Enditem

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