BREAKING NEWS

Abbas: Peace talks, Palestinian prisoner release to start 'very soon'

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that peace talks with Israel will start "very soon," and reiterated past statements that east Jerusalem would be the capital of the future Palestinian state, Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported.
Abbas laid roses on the grave of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Thursday to mark the start of Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan.
He expressed hope that the next Eid al-Fitr feast would be celebrated "under an independent and sovereign Palestinian state" and that Palestinian prisoners who have been imprisoned in Israel before the Oslo Accords would be released "very soon."