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The head of Arab League (AL) said on Saturday that a stage of comprehensive and normal Arab-Israeli peace relations can only be achieved when the Palestinian people gain their freedom and independence, said the Cairo-based pan-Arab body in a statement.
AL Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit explained that this can be reached through the "land for peace" principle and the establishment of a fully sovereign and independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Aboul-Gheit's remarks came several days after the United Arab Emirates reached a U.S.-brokered peace agreement with Israel that includes "full normalization of relations." Although welcomed by some Arab states, the deal was rejected by the Palestinian side as "a stab in the back."
The AL chief said that the Palestinian cause is a matter of consensus among all Arab states and ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories is a central goal of all Arab countries "without exception."
"A true, lasting, just and comprehensive peace with all its elements remains a strategic option for Arab countries," Aboul-Gheit added.
He also voiced "complete and unanimous Arab rejection" of Israel's plan to annex parts of the Palestinian occupied territories in the West Bank.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been going on for over seven decades following the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the Western-backed creation of Israel in 1948.
