Palestinian boy waves Syrian and Palestinian flags during a protest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Nablus. (File photo)

Damascus, August 1 (RHC)-- Syria says it will continue to provide more legal and political support to the Palestinian nation in their struggle to liberate their lands from Israeli occupation and establish an independent sovereign state with East al-Quds as its capital.

The Syrian foreign ministry announced in a statement that Damascus will maintain its solid backing for the Palestinian cause until the Tel Aviv regime ends its occupation.  The ministry reiterated Syria’s support for the Palestinian issue, Palestinians’ right to self-determination and establishment of their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.

It also vowed to utilize all available means at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hold the occupying Israeli regime to account for its aggressive policies and practices across the occupied Palestinian territories.

Damascus has been and will remain at the forefront of supporters of the Palestinian cause, and will spare no effort to end the Israeli occupation of the occupied Arab territories, including the strategic Golan Heights, it added.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state with East al-Quds as its capital.

Israel routinely demolishes Palestinian houses in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds, claiming that the structures have been built without permits, which are almost impossible to obtain.  They also sometimes order Palestinian owners to demolish their own houses or pay the costs of the demolition.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in some 280 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and al-Quds.

All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The United Nations Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.