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UN Secretary-General Says Jerusalem Should be Dual Capital

   VOA News 20 March 2010
   U.N.  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks to the media after talks in
   Moscow, 19 Mar 2010

Photo: AP

   U.N.  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks to the media after talks in
   Moscow, 19 Mar 2010

   U.N.  Secretary-General  Ban  Ki-moon  says  he  hopes  to see a peace
   agreement in the Middle East within 24 months.
   Speaking  at  a  press  conference  on  Saturday,  Mr.  Ban  said that
   agreement   should  include  an  end  the  occupation  of  Palestinian
   territories  and  include Jerusalem as the capital of both the Israeli
   and Palestinian states.
   He  stressed  that  he  was  merely reiterating the message he and the
   other  members  of  the  international  Quartet decided on at Friday's
   meeting in Moscow.
   Mr.  Ban spent Saturday morning in the West Bank capital Ramallah with
   Palestinian  Prime  Minister  Salam  Fayyad  at the start of a two-day
   visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
   The  two  traveled  to a hillside where a large Israeli settlement and
   the  Israeli  barrier  are  visible. On the hillside, Mr. Ban told Mr.
   Fayyad the Quartet partners support establishing a "viable independent
   Palestinian state."
   Mr. Ban is also scheduled to meet with Israeli officials, and to visit
   the  Gaza  Strip  to,  he  said  Saturday, express solidarity with the
   residents after Israel's offensive there last year.
   The  diplomatic  urging comes as tensions and unrest rise concerning a
   new housing project for Jewish settlers in occupied East Jerusalem.
   Israeli  airstrikes  targeted  an unused airport and nearby tunnels in
   the Gaza Strip late Friday, wounding at least 11 people.
   The  Israeli  military  said  the  strikes  were in response to recent
   rocket  fire  from  Gaza.   On  Thursday,  a  rocket  fired  from the
   Palestinian territory killed a Thai farm worker in southern Israel.
   Palestinian  protesters clashed with police Friday in East Jerusalem.Â
   Other clashes took place in Hebron and Bilin in the West Bank.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.

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