The Secretary General-elect of the Arab League has said that the Palestinian and Arab people “no longer accept provisional notions or partial solutions and proposals which aim to prolong the peace process without a clear time frame”. Dr Nabil Elaraby, who is currently Egypt’s Foreign Minister, expressed his thoughts at a reception for a delegation representing the “Israeli peace initiative”. He confirmed his belief that an international conference represents the ideal framework within which a comprehensive and just final peace agreement may be reached in order to “achieve the region’s desire for peace”.
The official spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cairo, Manha Bakhoum, said Dr Elaraby had stressed that “Israel must interact positively and earnestly with the major changes being witnessed in the Middle East”, laying emphasis on the fact that “the usual time-consuming methods and faits accompli on the ground, will not be acceptable or practicable.”
The Foreign Minister highlighted Egypt’s hopes that the United States would continue to “lead a conspicuous and effective international effort aimed at bringing an end to the conflict on the basis of independent international sources of authority. [Egypt] also hopes that the US administration will not backtrack on the commitment it made to see through the formation of the Palestinian state this coming September.”