Arabs urge U.S. to keep up Mideast peace push

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki: "We are committed as Palestinians and Arabs to the negotiation process and the April 29 date and continuing to deal with the efforts that the American administration and John Kerry are making to find a way out of this crisis..."

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http://news.yahoo.com/arabs-urge-u-keep-mideast-peace-push-154946327--sector.html

Arab Foreign Ministers and their delegations attend the Arab Foreign Ministers' meeting at the Arab League headquarter in Cairo. April 9, 2014. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Arab League called on the United States on Wednesday to keep up efforts to salvage Middle East peace talks that are on the brink of collapse, blaming Israel for a crisis that has led Washington to evaluate its role in the negotiations.

At a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, the Arab League said Israel was responsible for the "serious predicament" facing the negotiations, citing its failure to release about two dozen Palestinian prisoners as one of the major causes.

"(The ministers) called on America to continue its efforts for the resumption of the negotiation track that obliges Israel to implement its commitments ... according to the agreed time frame," a League statement said.

The U.S.-brokered negotiations plunged into crisis last week after Israel, demanding a Palestinian commitment to continue talking after the end of the month, failed to carry out the promised release of about two dozen Palestinian prisoners.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded by signing 15 global treaties, including the Geneva Conventions on the conduct of war and occupations, on behalf of the State of Palestine, a defiant move that surprised Washington and angered Israel.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who had hoped to reach a peace deal by April 29, said on Friday that Washington was evaluating whether it was worth continuing its role in the Middle East talks, saying it was "not an open-ended effort".

Israel announced on Wednesday a partial freeze in high-level contacts with the Palestinians in retaliation for their signing international conventions it contends they are not entitled to endorse before formal establishment of a state.

Underscoring the Palestinians' main concern - economic measures imposed by Israel - the Arab League said Arab states must meet their financial commitments to the Palestinian Authority "to provide an Arab financial safety net".

Under interim peace deals, Israel collects and transfers to the PA some $100 million a month in taxes on goods imported into the Palestinian territories. Israel has previously frozen the payments during times of heightened tensions ...READ MORE

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BBC News Profile: The League of Arab States, or Arab League, is a voluntary association of countries whose peoples are mainly Arabic speaking or where Arabic is an official language.
Its stated aims are to strengthen ties among member states, coordinate their policies and direct them towards a common good.

Arab summit refuses to recognize Israel as 'Jewish state'

President Mahmoud Abbas attends the 25th Arab League
summit in Kuwait City non March 25, 2014.(AFP/Yasser Al-Zayyat)

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=684874

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) -- Arab leaders fully back a Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, an Israeli demand that threatens to derail peace talks, a joint statement said on Wednesday.

"We express our total rejection of the call to consider Israel as a Jewish state," said the final declaration of the two-day Arab summit in Kuwait.

President Abbas told the 25th Arab League summit that the Israeli government was trying to renege on its commitment to release Palestinian prisoners and was not serious about peace talks.

"The Israeli government took every chance to foil the American efforts. This proves what we say about the lack of seriousness and preparedness of the Israeli government to withdraw and create peace."

Abbas rejected partitioning the al-Aqsa mosque either physically or by imposing a schedule in which Jews and Muslims be able to worship separately.

Ahead of the summit, Arab officials told Ma'an that Arab envoys were considering withdrawing the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002.

The initiative -- which calls for two states on the 1967 borders and a "just settlement" of the refugee issue in exchange for full normalization between Israel and the Arab world -- was largely rejected by Israeli officials after it was approved at the 2002 Beirut summit.

The PLO recognized Israel's right to exist in 1988, but say that recognizing Israel as a "Jewish state" is unnecessary and could jeopardize the right of return for Palestinian refugees and limit the rights of Palestinians living in Israel.

Ma'an staff contributed to this report

Arab League summit considers withdrawing Arab Peace Initiative

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http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=683843

23/03/2014 

KUWAIT (Ma'an) -- As the 25th Arab League Summit to be held in Kuwait next week draws closer, Arab officials told Ma'an that they are considering withdrawing the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002.

The initiative -- which calls for two states on the 1967 borders and a "just settlement" of the refugee issue in exchange for full normalization between Israel and the Arab world -- was largely rejected by Israeli officials after it was approved at the 2002 Beirut summit.

An Arab official in Kuwait told Ma'an that the initiative "would not remain forever an exhibition for Israel to watch."

He also asserted that the summit would definitely oppose recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, a key Israel demand in ongoing negotiations.

The foreign ministers of Arab countries are scheduled to convene Sunday to discuss the summit's draft report.

The summit's subcommittees confirmed to the Palestine envoy to the Arab League Muhammad Subih and ambassador to Egypt Barakat al-Farra that the Palestinian issue would dominate the summit's agenda.

Reviewing the Arab Peace Initiative will be central on the agenda alongside peace talks with Israel, the status of the occupied Golan Heights, and means for supporting Palestinian refugees in Lebanon ...READ MORE

Arab League, Abbas reject recognizing Israel as 'Jewish state'

"We recognized Israel in mutual recognition in the (1993) Oslo agreement - why do they now ask us to recognize the Jewishness of the state?" he asked..."Why didn't they present this demand to Jordan or Egypt when they signed a peace agreement with them?" Abbas added."

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/09/us-israel-palestinians-arabs-idUSBREA280J920140309

Foreign ministers of the Arab League countries meet in Cairo March, 9, 2014.

Credit: Reuters/Stringer

 CAIRO Sun Mar 9, 2014 7:46pm EDT

 (Reuters) - The Arab League on Sunday endorsed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's rejection of Israel's demand for recognition as a Jewish state, as U.S.-backed peace talks approach a deadline next month.

The United States want Abbas to make the concession as part of efforts to reach a "framework agreement" and extend the talks aimed at settling the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
 
"The council of the Arab League confirms its support for the Palestinian leadership in its effort to end the Israeli occupation over Palestinian lands, and emphasizes its rejection of recognizing Israel as a 'Jewish state'," Arab foreign ministers said in a statement in Cairo...READ MORE

"The grassroots approach is challenging and circuitous, and peace is slow to come. Dialogue groups are fighting fire with water, but every Palestinian home that gets demolished, every missile that comes over from Gaza, is like a shot of gasoline. As an American, I believe in the power of the popular will, and that every person who can come to see the other side for all their humanity helps build a coalition for peace" Kelly Payne

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http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2013/0719/Finding-peace-for-Israelis-and-Palestinians-among-people-not-policies

Finding peace for Israelis and Palestinians among people – not policies

John Kerry or the Arab League may prod a peace deal into place, but nothing can last unless ordinary people living under the policy see that every Israeli is not a settler and every Palestinian does not begrudge Israel a right to exist. I've seen the groundwork of that dialogue at work.

By Kelly Payne, Op-ed contributor / July 19, 2013 

Secretary of State John Kerry meets with members of the Arab League Peace Initiative in Amman, Jordan, July 17. Mr. Kerry is on his sixth visit to the region, seeking to persuade the Israelis and Palestinians to resume direct negotiations, frozen for almost three years. Op-ed contributor Kelly Payne writes: 'Politics make issues impersonal. To create or loosen personal convictions...people have to share their real-life narratives.'

Mandel Ngan/AP

T el Aviv, Israel

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a perennial feature of the Middle Eastern political scene. Students of international relations like me find it intriguing, but also tiring – and static. Issues that can change, developments that are fluid, trends that are dynamic – that’s where I see students’ interests pulled instead. I myself almost began to forget how much this conflict mattered until a very personal association forced me to confront its intractable reality. I began to date a student at Yale from the Palestinian territories. Even to me, that sounds like a really silly way to find your political conscience...READ MORE

Kerry backs moves to revive Arab peace initiative... Addressing reporters after the talks, he said he had reaffirmed the vision of President Barack Obama of "two states living side-by-side in peace and security, brought about through direct negotiations between the parties."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani deliver a joint statement after a multilateral meeting with the Arab League delegation at the Blair House in Washington, D.C., on April 29, 2013. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=590774

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WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US Secretary of State John Kerry made a fresh push Monday to relaunch the moribund Middle East peace process, meeting top Arab League officials in a bid to revive a decade-old Saudi plan.

Far from the cameras, the new top US diplomat held talks with senior ministers from the Arab League, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Palestinian territories to discuss the Arab Peace Initiative.

The ministers, meeting in the privacy of Blair House just a stone's throw from the White House, were also joined by Vice President Joe Biden, for what Kerry called a "very positive, very constructive discussion."

Since taking office on February 1, Kerry has plunged into the maelstrom of Arab-Israeli politics hoping to break an impasse and resume the vital Palestinian-Israeli talks which collapsed in late 2010.

After his discussions, he praised "the Arab League's very important role... in bringing about a peace in the Middle East, and specifically by reaffirming the Arab Peace Initiative here... with a view to ending the conflict."

Kerry has suggested the Arab Peace Initiative -- unveiled in 2002 by Saudi King Abdullah in which 22 Arab countries would normalize ties with Israel in return for Israeli withdrawal from occupied lands -- could provide a framework.

Addressing reporters after the talks, he said he had reaffirmed the vision of President Barack Obama of "two states living side-by-side in peace and security, brought about through direct negotiations between the parties."

Kerry has already traveled three times to the region, meeting senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, pursuing what he has called "a quiet strategy" in an ambitious bid to revive the talks and achieve a peace treaty which has eluded successive American administrations for decades.

Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim, chair of the Arab Peace Initiative follow-up committee, headed the delegation, which also included Palestinian foreign affairs minister Riyad al-Maliki and Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi.

"Peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis ... is a strategic choice for the Arab states," Jassim said after the talks.

He agreed that any deal should be based on a two-state solution, with the borders defined by the June 4, 1967 borders, before Israeli troops seized East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

But Jassim backed Obama's proposals for a "comparable and mutual agreed minor swap of the land" between Israelis and Palestinians to reflect the realities of the burgeoning communities on the ground.

Earlier, Jassim had welcomed the talks saying he believed it was "an important meeting, an important era, which we hope will lead to peace, a comprehensive peace between the Arabs and the Israelis."

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr also attended the talks, along with Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa and top Saudi and Lebanese officials.

The talks came after a "series of productive conversations by the secretary to explore how we can best move regional peace efforts forward," deputy acting State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told journalists.

They also focused on new proposals from Kerry to promote economic development on the West Bank -- a scheme in which he is hoping to attract private sector investment to boost Palestinian trust.

Arab League official urges Arab Israelis to go out and vote to thwart ‘racist’ Israeli plans

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/arab-league-official-urges-arab-israelis-to-go-out-and-vote-to-thwart-racist-israeli-plans/2013/01/22/c6ee1dea-6481-11e2-889b-f23c246aa446_story.html
 

CAIRO — A senior Arab League official has called on Israel’s Arab minority to go out and vote in the Jewish state’s parliamentary election, arguing that doing so will foil “racist” plans to force them to leave their homes.

Mohammed Sobeih, who is the pan-Arab organization’s assistant secretary general, claims that Tuesday’s election will be dominated by the extremist right that he says speaks openly of forcing Arab Israelis to pack up and leave.

His call is unusual for the Cairo-based league, which rarely addresses itself to Arab citizens of Israel. Himself a Palestinian, Sobeih said his Monday call was motivated by fears that underrepresentation of Arabs — about 20 percent of the Israel’s population — would allow parliament to adopt “racist” legislation but still look democratic to the world.

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