Abul Gheit supports Abbas' proposal on fostering peace process

CAIRO - 27 February 2018: Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Abul Gheit said Tuesday the league supports calls by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on the international community to consider an international multilateral mechanism to foster the Middle East peace process, comprising all active international and regional forces.

Abul Gheit, in an address before the 11th meeting of the board of trustees of the Yasser Arafat Foundation, read out on his behalf by Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Hossam Zaki, voiced belief that the mechanism should be an offshoot of an international conference to be held by mid-2018 and abide by the bases of reference of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

"The Palestinian issue is going through one of the toughest historical turning points...as Arabs and Palestinians, we should shoulder the responsibility and face the challenge," he said.

The US decision to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel and the recent announcement of plans to relocate the US embassy to the occupied holy city in May marking the 70th anniversary of the Nakba is considered full prejudice to Israel and complete absence of justice to the nature and history of the decades-long standing conflict, he added.

The decision is considered the most dangerous part of a chain of continued procedures and decisions that all aim at imposing a fait accompli on the Palestinians and forcing them to give up core principles of their national project, he added.