No plan to alter Arab Peace Initiative, Palestinian official tells Arab News
There are no plans to alter or amend the Arab Peace Initiative offered to Israel during the Beirut Arab Summit by Saudi Arabia, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki told Arab News on the sidelines of the Arab Summit in Jordan.
The summit is being held in the face of harsh challenges with extraordinary Arab representation, which makes the discussion and expected resolutions of paramount importance when it comes to the Palestinian cause, Al-Maliki said on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday.
The Israeli media, which was not given access to cover the summit, has claimed that the Palestinian delegation will submit a new proposal to push forward peace talks with Israel.
“This is absolute nonsense. There are no plans to make any changes to the Saudi-brokered peace initiative. This initiative is offering Israel a golden oppor- tunity which successive Israeli governments have failed to seize since it was put to the public in 2002,” Al-Maliki said in a statement to Arab News.
He stressed that such claims are baseless and claimed that the Israeli government has been spreading rumors to the Israeli media in this regard.
“The Arab leaders in general, and the Palestinians in particular, reject any attempt or suggestion by the Israelis to make any change to the (Arab Peace) Initiative. No Arab state will accept the Israeli vision and dictation,” the Palestinian official said.
“There will be a string of messages coming out from the summit to the Israelis and the summit will adopt a resolution which reaffirms the Arab Peace Initiative as it was proposed during the Lebanon summit,” he said.
The official expressed appreciation toward the Arab leaders who have reaffirmed their support to the Palestinian people.