The Palestinian Authority has high hopes for United States President Barack Obama’s upcoming trip to the region, the AFP news agency reports. "President Mahmoud Abbas welcomes the visit of US President Barack Obama to Palestine," said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for PA Chairman Abbas. "We hope that President Obama's visit to the region is the beginning of a new US policy that will lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian lands occupied since 1967,” he added. The PA claims all land between the 1949 armistice line and Jordan as its rightful territory. An estimated 600,000 Israelis live in the area. Abbas has refused to return to negotiations as long as Israel allows its citizens in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem to continue to build new homes.
