AMMAN, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Jordan's King Abdullah II on Monday urged Israel to take serious actions towards peace, state-run new agency Petra reported.

    "It is time to stop oppression and violations the Palestinians suffer from," the Jordanian leader said in a letter addressed to Paul Badji, chairman of a UN committee, to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, observed annually on Nov. 29.

    In the letter to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, Abdullah II urged Israel to engage in serious negotiations to address all final status issues in accordance with a specific timeframe and the Arab peace initiative, which offers Israel normal ties with the Arab world in return for withdrawal from the Palestinian territories it occupied in the 1967 war.

    He demanded Israel freeze all "unilateral measures," including the expansion of settlements, and end all measures seeking to "alter the characteristics of occupied Jerusalem, its identity and threaten holy sites in the city."

    Palestinians have insisted that East Jerusalem would be the capital of the envisaged Palestinian state.

    Abdullah II also said it is time to empower the Palestinian people to exercise their natural and fundamental right to determine their destiny and enjoy independence on their national soil.

    The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People was created by the UN General Assembly in 1975.The committee, which is chaired by Senegal, has 23 members and 25 observers.

    In the letter, the king emphasized his country's continued support for the Palestinians and hailed the committee's efforts to attain peace in the Middle East.

    In a message marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Sunday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over the deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian talks and stressed the importance of creating the right conditions for the two sides to build sufficient mutual trust to resume negotiations.

    "It is vital that a sovereign State of Palestine is achieved," the UN chief said.

Special Report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts