PLO: Arab League official made ‘false’ remarks about peace with Israel

The Palestine Liberation Organisation said on Monday that remarks made by the Secretary General of the Arab League about making peace with Israel were “false”, Al-Watan Voice has reported.

“Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s remarks that the ongoing normalisation of some Arab states with the [Israeli] occupation stopped Israel’s annexation plans are false,” said Wasel Abu Yousef of the PLO Executive Committee. “The normalisation of the ties between Arab states and Israel undermines the Arab position and breaks the system for the sake of getting approval from the US and [Benjamin] Netanyahu.”

Abu Yousef described normalisation as “a stab in the back of the Palestinian people” as well as the betrayal of legitimate Palestinian rights and the causes of the Arab world. He made his comments after Aboul Gheit’s words were reported by the Egyptian newspaper Youm Seven.

The Arab League official claimed that he “understands the fears of the Palestinians” arising from the UAE-Israeli deal, but that it had stopped the annexation plan. “Annexation was stopped for ever. Arab states exchanged officials and opened offices with Israel following the Oslo Accords, and they closed them after the start of Al-Aqsa Intifada.” If, he added, Israel annexed the West Bank, the Arab states would take the same position.

He noted that the current US administration “oppressed” the Palestinians but a “peace deal undermined the annexation of the West Bank during the administration of Donal Trump.”

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