Abbas 'committed' to peace process

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated the Palestinian leadership's commitment to the peace process in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution through negotiations, which lead to the ending the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital in the 1967 borders. During a meeting last night with members of the US-Israeli delegation for academic exchange, which includes eminent professors in American and Chinese universities in Ramallah, Abbas said there is a valuable opportunity that must be seized by the Israeli side to achieve a just and comprehensive peace with the Palestinians and Arab and Islamic countries through the implementation of the Arab Peace Initiative which was approved by all Arab and Islamic countries and calls for a full Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories and an end of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Abbas expressed the readiness of the Palestinian side to return to the negotiating table immediately if the Israeli side agrees to the principle of the two-state solution and stops the settlement in the Palestinian territories.