A top Palestinian official on Monday condemned a statement by US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that he would recognize Jerusalem as "the undivided capital" of Israel.
"Trump's statement shows disregard for international law [and] longstanding US foreign policy regarding the status of Jerusalem, including the occupation and illegal annexation of occupied East Jerusalem," said Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in a statement.
Trump's comments came during a meeting on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in New York for the UN General Assembly. The Israeli leader also met with Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton later that day in a bid to appear neutral ahead of the US elections on November 8.
Erekat added that Trump's Israel adviser has previously discredited the two-state solution and UN resolutions.
He urged the international community to follow through on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' call "to bring an end to the occupation and salvage the two-state solution before it's too late."
The US and the international community regard Israel's 1967 occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem as illegal under international law. They have so far refused to recognize Israel's declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but rather as the capital of two states - Israel and the future state of Palestine.
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