Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said today that the peace plan included in the Arab Peace Initiative and adopted by the Arab summit in 2002 remains the basic plan agreed upon by the Arabs to achieve a comprehensive and just peace between the Arabs and Israel.
Speaking during the 154th session of the Arab League Council at the level of foreign ministers, chaired by Palestine, Aboul Gheit stressed that the Palestinian cause will remain the subject of Arab consensus, adding that the goal that all our Arab countries seek, without an exception, is ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
He explained that peace is the strategic choice for the Arabs since the Arab summit in 1996, noting that the peace that Arab peoples understand and accept will not be fully and comprehensively achieved before the Palestinian people obtain their legitimate rights.
“Last April this Council rejected the Israeli annexation plan, and even considered it a war crime and I renew, in this regard, the complete rejection of these plans altogether,” the Arab League chief stressed.
He reiterated rejection of any plans or arrangements presented internationally that would undermine the Palestinian rights, or prejudice the status of the city of Jerusalem.
“This is the basis of our Arab position, and it is a steadfast position, which enjoys consensus, and is supported by decisions issued by this council as well as successive Arab summits,” he said.
He also pointed out that the sovereign right of each country to conduct its foreign policy in the way it prefers is an indisputable right.
“This is something that this Council respects and approves, but rather we affirm at the same time the constants subject to consensus that should not be affected by political variables or sovereign decisions,” he stressed.
