Cairo: Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit emphasized on Tuesday the necessity of ending the Israeli occupation and establishing the Palestinian state to ensure security and stability for the region’s peoples. He highlighted the importance of avoiding a renewed war in Gaza.
According to Qatar News Agency, in his speech during the opening session of the Extraordinary Arab Summit hosted by Egypt at the request of Palestine to discuss developments in the Palestinian cause and ways to support the Palestinian people, Aboul Gheit stated that reconstruction would only be possible when the weapons fall silent and the Israeli entity fully withdraws from the sector.
He noted that the past decades have proven that any circumvention of the requirements for a just peace will only lead to further suffering for all.
He stressed the need to confront plans for a new Nakba against Palestinians and support the Palestinian people’s right to independence, freedom, dignity, and self-determination like other peoples of the world.
Aboul Gheit pointed out that the Palestinian issue cannot remain unresolved. He explained that holding on to the occupation system and the apartheid regime in the Palestinian territories, whether in the West Bank or Gaza Strip, will only lead to fragile and temporary stability. Everyone will continue to live in successive cycles of violence until the core issue of ending the Israeli occupation and establishing the Palestinian state is addressed as the only way to achieve peace in the entire region. Lasting peace will contribute to the stability of all the region’s peoples.
He clarified that the presence of the Palestinian people on their land is not the cause of the ongoing conflict as some may think. The notion of displacing them is rejected because it sows the seeds of a new, unending conflict and adds to the old historical injustice.
Aboul Gheit noted that the Arab countries have taken significant steps towards paving the way for a just and comprehensive solution since the launch of the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002. The initiative was followed by practical steps showing clear intent and determination for a permanent and comprehensive settlement in the region. The initiative is still in place, and peace remains a strategic option for Arabs for a better future in the Middle East.