MOSCOW, DEC 22 (DNA) – Russia’s Putin and Turkey’s Erdoğan have reached agreement on creating a Palestinian state during a phone call on Friday, the Kremlin said in a written statement.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday said they both supported creating a Palestinian state, the Kremlin said the day after the UN rejected the decision by Washington to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

In a phonecall, the two leaders “discussed the situation of Middle East peace talks in the context of the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on the status of Jerusalem,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

They “confirmed the mutual disposition to continue to assist in resolving the Palestine-Israeli conflict on the basis of international norms and realisation of the right of the Palestinian people to create an independent state,” it said.

US President Donald Trump decided on December 6 to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The status of the Holy City is one of the thorniest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides claiming it as their capital.

On Thursday, the 193-member General Assembly adopted the motion to reject Trump’s decision by 128 to nine with 35 abstentions, though the US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the vote would make no difference in Washington’s decision.=DNA

==========