His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday held talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron on the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

King Abdullah and the British premier stressed the need for immediate and effective action to defuse tension in the Middle East by resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution.

During the meeting, attended by British Foreign Secretary William Hague, King Abdullah stressed that the international community must shoulder its legal and humanitarian responsibility by taking tangible and speedy steps to end the suffering of the Palestinian people and remove obstacles to peace.

Cameron's meeting with the King is his first meeting with an Arab leader since he assumed his post on May 11.

At the meeting, King Abdullah emphasised the need to lift the blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza, which he described as “illegal and inhumane”. He also asserted the importance of launching an independent international investigation into the recent Israeli raid against the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla aid convoy.

The King stressed that achieving peace in the Middle East region on the basis of the two-state solution, which guarantees the Palestinian people the right to establish an independent state on their national soil, is a prerequisite for regional and world peace.

Accordingly, King Abdullah said that the international community must deal effectively with the Israeli government's policies, which currently preclude the possibility of achieving any progress with regard to the peace process.

The King explained that it is impossible to accept the status quo, and warned that the volatile situation in the Middle East could explode at any moment as a result of the continued suffering of the Palestinians and lack of progress on the peace track.

King Abdullah's meeting with Cameron came as part of the King's intensive diplomatic efforts to spur international action to end the suffering of the Palestinian people and to pressure Israel to change its policies that impede the peace process, the statement said.

The King will continue these efforts in Washington as he is scheduled to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday before he travels to Oslo for talks with senior Norwegian officials on the actions needed to remove the obstacles hindering the peace process and to lift the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza.