Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas that Tokyo intends to keep its embassy in Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday that his country has no plans to move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to Palestine’s official news agency.
The statement came during Abe’s official meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, WAFA reported.
The Japanese leader affirmed his country’s support for a political process based on the principle of a two-state solution and its readiness to contribute to any effort to achieve peace.
He expressed Japan’s continuous support for building Palestinian institutions and infrastructure.
Abbas reiterated that Palestinians seek an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital based on the 1967 borders.
He said that the US has abandoned its role as “an honest peace broker” by recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Last December, US President Donald Trump sparked an outcry across the Arab and Muslim world by recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and vowing to relocate Washington’s embassy to the city.
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Palestine-Israel conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem -occupied by Israel since 1967 – might eventually serve as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.
Source TRT