"After 43 years of occupation, Israel seems to have chosen apartheid over peace. The Israeli colonization process destroys any hope for a two-state solution," Erekat said in a press statement marking the 43rd anniversary of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem after the Arab-Israeli war that broke out June 5, 1967.

Erekat accused Israel of blocking Arabs efforts to make peace in the Middle East. Israel rejected Arab efforts to recognize Israel and normalize ties, said Erekat, adding that the "the ongoing Israeli provocations and systematic discrimination against Palestinians demonstrate the country's continuous disrespect of international law and human rights and its effort to destabilize the region."

He said that ending the Israeli military occupation of all Arab and Palestinian territories would pave the way for a new era of peace, cooperation and prosperity in the entire Middle East.

Arab foreign ministers, who held a meeting Wednesday to discuss the Israeli attack on the Gaza-bound flotilla of ships, reiterated that the Arab peace initiative to end the conflict with Israel won't be on the table forever.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) and Israel are currently holding indirect peace talks through US Middle East envoy George Mitchell. Direct talks between the two parties stopped when Israel waged a three-week military offensive in Gaza between December 2008 and January 2009.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is set to meet with US President Barack Obama in Washington on June 9.

Mitchell told the participants of a Palestine investment conference in Bethlehem this week that the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla must not undermine the proximity talks. He said the attack "underscores the need to make progress in negotiations."