Jordan’s King Abdullah II has said that there is nothing more important than safeguarding Jerusalem in light of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

Speaking yesterday during the Lamp of Peace Award Ceremony in Italy, King Abdullah said that “nowhere is it more important to act than in safeguarding Jerusalem”.

The King said that his country is working for a “lasting resolution of the region’s core conflict—the Palestinian-Israeli crisis—through a viable, independent, sovereign Palestinian state, on the 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and a secure Israel, fully part of its own region, recognised by Arab and Muslim states around the world”.

He added: “Today, nowhere is it more important to act than in safeguarding Jerusalem. As the Hashemite Custodian of Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy sites, we are bound by a special, personal duty to the security and future of the holy city.”

“Jordan is actively involved in helping with historic renovation of precious Muslim and Christian holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.”

He concluded: “Ties of love and concern bind the holy city to billions of Muslims and Christians around the world, and Jerusalem should be and must be a unifying city of peace.”

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