Arab League rejects Netanyahu's calls to revise Arab Peace Initiative

The Arab League has rejected the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposition to revise the Arab Peace Initiative as a precondition to accepting it.

“This is completely unacceptable because the Arab Peace Initiative has a certain philosophy and a certain order,” Secretary-General of the Arab League Dr. Nabil Elaraby said on Tuesday.

Netanyahu is reported to have said during a Likud ministers meeting on Monday that if Israel was to accept the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative as a framework to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the initiative would have to be changed significantly, Israel Haaretz newspaper reported.

Netanyahu said: “If the Arab nations grasp the fact that they need to revise the Arab League proposal according to the changes Israel demands, then we can talk.”

He added: “If they bring the proposal from 2002 and define it as ‘take it or leave it’ – we’ll choose to leave it” he added.