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Arab FMs meet in Cairo, welcome French Mideast peace initiative

Xinhua, May 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Arab foreign ministers discussed Saturday France's Middle East peace initiative in an extraordinary meeting held at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo and attended by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Arab foreign ministers welcomed the French initiative and the country's attempt to bring the Palestinian and the Israeli sides to the negotiation table in a bid to head towards a settlement for the decades-long conflict.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed in his speech that the UN relevant resolutions, the 2002 Arab peace initiative and the previous agreements signed between the Palestinian and the Israeli sides will be the references for the intended Paris international peace conference.

"It is time to mobilize Arab and international wills so that the Palestinian people can have their freedom and to find a fair, agreed-upon resolution for the issue of refugees and to establish an independent Palestinian state at the borders of June 4, 1967," Abbas told the Arab meeting.

Abbas said the Arabs recognized the state of Israel yet he voiced rejection of referring to it as the "Jewish State" as well as rejection of the establishment of a Palestinian state with "temporary borders."

For his part, Arab League chief Nabil al-Araby denounced what he referred to as Israel's "fascism" and "racial discrimination" against the Palestinians and criticized Israeli "obstinate" attitude towards peacemaking efforts to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

France has recently said it will continue to press ahead with plans to host a multilateral Middle East peace conference later this year despite the Israeli rejection of the idea. Endit