The foreign ministers of the Arab League countries reiterated their commitment to the Peace Initiative and condemned the Turkish and Iranian interference in Arab affairs.
The ministers held a virtual session on Wednesday, during which they discussed extensively developments in the Palestinian file.
Arab League Assistant Secretary-General Husam Zaki said that talks on the developments of the Palestinian issue were comprehensive but the ministers did not reach a consensus over the draft resolution proposed by Palestine, related to the tripartite statement between the UAE, US, and Israel.
The Palestinian official news agency quoted Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki as saying during his address to the meeting that the UAE was going ahead with the normalization decision despite its violation of the Arab peace initiative and the decisions of the Arab summits. He called on the Arab League to issue a resolution rejecting this step.
For his part, Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit stressed that the Palestinian issue would always remain a subject of Arab consensus. He added that the peace plan included in the Arab Peace Initiative and adopted by the Arab summit in 2002 was “the basic plan and the starting point” for achieving a lasting, just, and comprehensive peace between Arabs and Israel.
Aboul Gheit, however, emphasized “the sovereign right of every country to conduct its foreign policy in the way it deems fit.”
“It is an indisputable right, and this is something that this council respects and endorses,” he added.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry underlined “the need for a unified and resolute Arab policy to deter the Turkish regime, through more coordination between Arab countries.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez quoted Shoukry as saying that the “blatant” Turkish practices and interventions in many Arab countries represented the most important emerging threat to Arab national security.
According to the decisions issued at the end of the meeting, the Council of the Arab League agreed to “call on the member states to request the Turkish side not to interfere in Arab internal affairs and to stop provocative actions that undermine confidence-building and threaten the security and stability of the region.”
The Arab foreign ministers also called on Ankara to “withdraw all its forces from Arab territories.”
Qatar, Somalia, and Djibouti expressed their reservation about the decision on Turkey.
As for the Iranian interference, the Arab foreign ministers condemned in “the strongest terms the terrorist attacks on Aramco’s oil facilities with the use of Iranian-made weapons, and welcomed the United Nations report that held the Iranian regime responsible for these attacks.”
With regard to the Libyan crisis, Zaki said: “We are witnessing a greater and faster agreement between the parties and we have some cautious optimism over the Libyan file.”
“The new efforts may carry good news, and frankly the Libyan issue needs much effort,” he added.
