Sheikh Ekrema Sabri, the higher Islamic authority chairman and preacher of the Aqsa Mosque, has charged that the reported two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict was impractical and illusionary.

He said, while addressing the Friday congregation in the Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem, that the solution stabilizes occupation and lures more Arab countries into normalizing relations with Israel.

The Sheikh underlined that the Israeli settlement drive was on the rise leaving no land in the West Bank for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

He reiterated his rejection of exchanging lands between the Palestinians and Israel, and added that if Jerusalem and the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees were shelved then what is left for the Palestinians.

For his part, MP Yasser Mansour told the PIC on Friday that the two-state solution meant recognition of Israel as a "Jewish state".

He described the solution as "Zionist par excellence", and described negotiations and meetings between Mahmoud Abbas, the former PA chief, and Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu as useless and only entailed more losses for the Palestine cause.

Mansour, who was released from Israeli jails recently, also called for an immediate end to the state of division within the Palestinian arena. isra haber