Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas declared Wednesday that there would be no peace or a Palestinian state without Jerusalem as the capital of that state. "We won't accept any city other than Jerusalem as our capital," Abbas said during a speech at a conference on Jerusalem in Ramallah.

"The responsibility for defending and restoring Jerusalem and purifying its holy sites is not that of the Palestinians alone, but the entire Arab, Islamic and Christian nation." Abbas urged Muslims and Christians to visit Jerusalem and its holy sites "to affirm the Arab and Islamic depth of the holy city." He said that it is the responsibility of the “entire Arab, Islamic and Christian nation” to restore and purify those sites.

Abbas claimed that Israel does not like to see any Arab, Muslim or Christian in Jerusalem. He said that there will be no peace, security or stability without Jerusalem. Abbas also accused Israel of working toward "isolating Jerusalem from its Palestinian surrounding and emptying it from its [Arab] residents in violation of international law." He also claimed that Israel has begun changing Jerusalem's demographic and geographic character by demolishing Arab houses, expelling Arab residents and building settlements in the city.

Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli President Shimon Peres, in speeches last week, both appealed to Abbas directly to ask him to return to the negotiating table.