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Arab league confirms commitment to two-state solution

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The Arab League summit has approved more than 10 resolutions on a variety of major regional issues such as Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Syrian crisis, the Yemeni civil war, and the ongoing conflict in Libya.

During the 28th summit, which met in Jordan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed the idea of amending the Arab Peace Initiative (API).

In his speech he said: “We reaffirm that it is not worthwhile in terms of peace and justice for some to talk about… manipulating the essence of the Arab Peace Initiative. We want it to be implemented as it was [first approved] in 2002, without amendments.”

Abbas also called on the UK to apologise for the Balfour Declaration as it approaches its Centenary.

The Saudi-led peace plan, proposed in 2002, calls on Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 lines and create a Palestinian State in exchange for full diplomatic and economic relations with Arab States.

In 2013, the Arab League accepted the principle of “comparable,” mutually agreed and “minor” land swaps between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Israeli officials have said that the API includes positive elements that can help revive constructive negotiations with the Palestinians and have expressed a willingness to negotiate revisions of the initiative with Arab state.

The summit released a closing statement that said: “We affirm that we will continue to work to relaunch serious Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations… that take place within a set period of time based on the two-state solution”.

It also called on all countries not to relocate their embassies to Jerusalem – in reference to President Trump’s promise to do so – and to respect all UN Security Council resolutions.

Earlier on Wednesday, Jordanian King Abdullah claimed that Israel is undermining the possibility of achieving a peace deal with the Palestinians. He said: “Israel is continuing to expand settlements and undermining the chances of achieving peace.”

Jason Greenblatt, U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy on the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians was at the summit. He had discussed the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in separate meetings with Abbas, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit and with the foreign ministers of Algeria, Jordan, Qatar, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is due to meet President Trump on Monday, and Abdullah and Abbas are expected to meet the American leader later in April.