Retreat From Arab Peace Initiative Weakens Palestinians: PM

Date: 09 September 2020 - 21:48

News ID: ۸۲۶۰۷

RAMALLAH (Dispatches) – Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye says that Arab countries’ retreat from the Arab Peace Initiative will weaken the Palestinian position.
In a phone conversation with Omani Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers Fahad Bin Mahmoud al-Said, Ishtaye said that the Arab Peace Initiative is the primary reference to resolve the Arab-Zionist conflict, Ishtaye’s office said in a statement.
Ishtaye called on Oman to play a role in urging a constructive dialogue among Arab countries to restore their unified position on various issues, especially on the Palestinian issue that "is considered the main one.”
For his part, al-Said stressed that his country is continuing to support the Palestinian cause, as well as all Palestinian rights.
The 54th session of the Arab League (AL) Council at the level of foreign ministers kicked off on Wednesday via a video conference under Palestine’s presidency.
"The meeting will tackle key Arab issues topped by the Palestinian developments as well as political, security, social and health issues in addition to developments in Libya,” said a statement of the Cairo-based League.
The League’s Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit reiterated rejection of the Zionist regime’s annexation plans in his speech, deeming it as "a crime of war.”
"I renew full opposition to such plans or any other ongoing arrangements at the international level that would diminish the Palestinian right, or prejudice the status of the city of al-Quds,” he added, noting that the Palestine cause has been and will remain an issue of Arab consensus.
Aboul-Gheit stressed that the Arab Peace Initiative is still the basic plan for achieving a comprehensive, just and permanent peace between the Zionist regime and the Arabs.

Saudi Regime Claims Supports Palestinian Solution

Saudi Arabia told an Arab League meeting on Wednesday it supports all efforts to reach a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
But a statement released by the Saudi foreign ministry on remarks made by Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud included no direct mention of a normalization deal between the Zionist regime and the United Arab Emirates.
The prince said Riyadh supported the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the borders before the 1967 Middle East war, with East al-Quds as its capital, according to the statement. During the 1967 war, the Zionist regime captured territory including the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which it still occupies.
Saudi former foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir also the Riyadh regime supports a "just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue.”
In a series of tweets Wednesday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry quoted al-Jubeir as saying that Riyadh envisions the establishment of a Palestinian state within the borders of 1967, with East al-Quds as its capital, "in accordance with international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative.”
"We continue to adhere to our positions on the just cause of the Palestinian people, who are suffering from Israeli occupation,” al-Jubeir noted.
Announced on Aug. 13, the UAE-Zionist accord was the first such accommodation between an Arab country and the occupying regime in more than 20 years.
Last week, Riyadh approved a request submitted by the UAE to permit aircraft from every region to pass through the kingdom’s airspace to reach the UAE, with the decision coming days after the first commercial flight from the occupied territories arrived in the UAE via Saudi airspace.
The Palestinian Authority put a draft resolution to discussion at an upcoming Arab League session, which stressed the 2002 Arab Initiative on the resolution of the Zionist-Palestinian conflict, but toned down criticism of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over normalizing with the Zionist regime under pressure from Manama and Abu Dhabi.
In comments about the UAE at the Arab League meeting in Cairo, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki referred to the accord as a "surprise”, "a normalization” and an "earthquake” that hit Arab consensus.