Germany's Merkel insists on two-state solution for Israel-Palestine conflict

BERLIN - 29 August 2019: German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Thursday for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict even if this goal is "increasingly difficult to achieve", Deutsche Welle reported.

Speaking alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Berlin, Merkel said that Palestinians and Israelis must be able to live side-by-side in peace and security.

Germany, as the biggest bilateral international donor in the Palestinian territories, will continue to support economic development and strengthening civil society, Merkel said.

Abbas said that Palestinians are ready to negotiate a two-state solution within 1967 borders, but he criticized US President Donald Trump for taking the side of Israel on such issues as the status of Jerusalem, refugees, borders and settlements.

Germany, on the other hand, has taken efforts to support a multilateral approach instead of unilateral imposition, Abbas said.

"Therefore we demand that negotiations fall under an international umbrella" composed of a quartet of European states and Arab states to guide talks between Israelis and Palestinians, Abbas said.

International law views both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as "occupied territories" and considers all Jewish settlement-building activity there as illegal.

The Palestinians want these territories -- along with the Gaza Strip -- for the establishment of a future Palestinian state.