From Drudge Report:

A Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital will be established in the coming year, Palestinian President Yassir Arafat promised Monday evening.

In a speech broadcast by Palestinian media to mark the 36th anniversary of the founding of his Fatah movement, Arafat said that such a state was a ‘fundamental basis for international and regional security and stability’.

The Palestinian state, he added, should be established in the West Bank and Gaza Strip – territory Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war.

Fatah, the leading component in the Palestine Liberation Organization, is considered the mainstream movement in the Palestinian-ruled territories. Recent reports suggest its popularity is on the wane, while the more militant Palestinian Islamic movements, such as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, are on the rise.

—–