Israeli-Palestinian clash forced US to prioritize issue, Tel Aviv does not contribute solutions: Arab League official

CAIRO – 27 May 2021: Ambassador Hossam Zaki, assistant to the Arab League Secretary-General, asserted that importance of the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Egypt as it is the first since assuming his post four months ago.

In an interview with Al Hayah T.V. channel, he said the U.S. administration did not intend to place the Middle East issues at the top of its priorities in the current period.

Zaki said the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis in the past period changed the U.S. administration’s mindset, which then sent its secretary of state to the region in light of the fierce clashes.

The U.S. administration is trying to rectify the mistakes of the previous administration concerning the Palestinian cause, he said.

The right-wing Israeli party does not accept the two-state solution or the one-state solution, but from the point of view of the Arab League, the time is suitable to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, he added.

The U.S. administration is willing to discuss and does not have negative preconception about Palestine, rather, it is open and positive to dealing with the Palestinians, Zaki said.

Concerning the Arab League speech at the UN, he said that everybody sees that Israel perpetrates destruction every now and then and the world fixes the damages, adding that this is unacceptable.

Amost all initiatives and solutions have been provided from the side of Palestinians and Arabs, and Israel has rejected them all. It does not accept either the two-state solution or the one-state solution, because then the Palestinian population would outnumber Jews and Israel wants to maintain the Jewish identity of the state, the ambassador continued.

The Arab League urges an end to the Palestinian-Palestinian division as soon as possible to handle the situation and restore the Palestinians unity, he said.