''2012 Year of Palestinian State – Abbas

RAMALLAH (NNN-KUNA) -- Next year should be the year of the Palestinian state, but obstacles against this quest are increasing everyday because there is an Israeli government that does not want peace, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday.

"We will not back down from our state, we have submitted the (statehood) request to the international Security Council and we will continue our endeavors," Abbas said at a ceremony in Ramallah to mark celebrations of the Palestinian revolution.

The year 2012, he added, would be the year of conciliation between the Palestinian factions.

The Palestinian "leadership is determined to complete conciliation ... and the elections committee will resume action in Gaza Strip by updating lists of voters," he said.

There will not be a Palestinian state without Jerusalem, added Abbas who noted that Israel was attempting to change the shapes of the land and construction of houses to erase every sign of the Palestinian people "but they will not be able to do that." Jewish settlement is illegal and illegitimate, he said.

"We have extended our hands for peace and are still ready to fight the war of peace until the end," he said. -- NNN-KUNA