Members of the Arab Peace Initiative Committee met in New York on Tuesday on the sidelines of the 77th United Nations General Assembly.
The roundtable meeting was convened at the invitation of Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah and Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
It marked the 20th anniversary of Saudi Arabia’s launch of the initiative during the 2002 Arab summit that was held in Beirut.
Since then, the initiative has remained the basis for Palestinian, Arab and Islamic calls for peace and resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Tuesday’s meeting underscored the importance of the initiative. The gatherers noted that the prospects of a political solution remain dim.
They expressed alarm at the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Palestinian Territories, mounting threats and growing illegal Israeli settlement expansion.
They voiced concern over the possible eruption of a new wave of violence that would threaten the Palestinian people and jeopardize the region.
The meeting with international and regional partners sought to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people amid the stalled political process. It sought to urge them to take tangible steps that would support the resumption of dialogue based on the 2002 initiative and relevant UN resolutions.
The roundtable was attended by members of the initiative committee: Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iraq, Palestine, Qatar, Lebanon, Marocco and Yemen.
Also present were European state sponsors of peace in the Middle East: Spain, Sweden and France.
Present were heads of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Organization for Islamic Cooperation, European Union foreign policy chief, and the EU and UN peace envoys.
