Arab League refuses to recognise Israel as Jewish state

The Arab League refuses to recognise Israel as a Jewish state; the league said in a statement on Sunday in Cairo.

The statement emphasised recognising East Jerusalem, an integral part of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, as the capital of the future State of Palestine to achieve peace. It also called for Israel to withdraw from all the Palestinian and Arab territories it had occupied in 1967 according to Security Council resolution 242 of 1967.

The League said the settlement negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians “must be based on international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab peace initiative which stipulate an end to the Israeli occupation of the territories it occupied in 1967 and to resolve the final status issues including the Israeli settlements, Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees’ right of return, the borders, the water, the prisoners and security”.

The League denounced all Israeli policies to Judaize Jerusalem and obliterate its history, cultural, humanitarian and religious identity saying that all such actions were void under international law.

“The Israeli settlement constructions in the occupied Palestinian territories, including the construction of the apartheid wall, which aim at imposing new realities on the ground, are illegal under international law,” the statement said.

The statement emphasised finding a just solution to the Palestinian refugees’ problem based on General Assembly resolution 194 and the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 and on releasing Palestinian prisoners and Arab detainees from Israeli jails as well as on lifting the illegal Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza.

The League’s Secretary General Nabil El-Arabi said the future of the Palestinian issue faces serious challenges both in the settlement negotiations under US auspices and the Israeli daily violations in the Palestinian territories.

“Israel is stepping up its settlement activities and its operations to Judaize Jerusalem while settlers and extremists violate the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” he said.

El-Arabi said that Israel insists on fabricating flimsy arguments to abort the ongoing negotiations and prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.

He said all options should be considered including going to the Security Council and calling for an international conference to guarantee the protection of Palestinian rights until the establishment of their state.