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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - His Majesty King Abdullah II on Saturday received at Al Husseiniyeh Palace an Arab ministerial team tasked with following up on the repercussions of a US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move the American embassy to the city.

The team comprised the foreign ministers of Egypt, Sameh Shukri, Palestine, Riyad Al Malki, Saudi Arabia, Adel Al Jubeir and Morocco, Nasser Bourita as well as United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, and Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Aboul Gheit.

His Majesty underlined the need to ramp up efforts and coordinate Arab positions to support the Palestinians in safeguarding their solid historic and legal rights in the city of Jerusalem and their quest to set up their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The issue of Jerusalem, he stressed, should be settled within the framework of a final settlement and a permanent peace agreement between the Palestinians and Israelis based on the two-state solution and according to international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.

The King also emphasised the importance of supporting the steadfastness of Jerusalemites and safeguarding the Arab identity of Jerusalem and Islamic and Christian holy sites in the city, and the need to build on the international consensus regarding the legal status of Jerusalem.

His Majesty reiterated that Jordan, based on the Hashemite custodianship of Muslim and Christian holy shrines in Jerusalem, will exert utmost efforts to uphold its religious and historic responsibility to protect the holy places.

The meeting tackled the best means to counter the implications of the US decision, which contravenes international legitimacy resolutions that affirm that the status of Jerusalem can only be determined through negotiations between the parties concerned.

It was also agreed that efforts should be intensified to find a political horizon towards ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on bases that meet the Palestinian people's right to freedom and to set up their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The meeting was attended by the Royal Court chief, the minister of foreign and expatriates affairs and the director of the King's office.

The Arab League has earlier announced the formation of a minor Arab ministerial team of the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the UAE as well as the Arab League chief to follow up on the negative consequences of the US decision on Jerusalem and explain its seriousness in view of the historic and religious status of Jerusalem for Arabs and Muslims.

The ministerial delegation was named upon Arab League decision 8821, which was issued in an Arab League Council meeting called for by Jordan and Palestine last month.