AMMAN: Jordan s King Abdullah II on Saturday told Arab foreign ministers that a unified position on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is key to a solution in the Middle East.
A unified Arab position towards the peace process and speaking one language with the international community, particularly the United States, will help achieve a just peace, a palace statement quoted the king as saying.
The time factor is vital for launching serious negotiations to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in line with the two-state solution.
Foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, met earlier in Amman to voice support for peace based on a two-state solution.
Our objective is to have direct peace negotiations, establish an independent Palestinian state and resolve all regional conflicts to create stability, Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told reporters afterwards.
The meeting aims to reaffirm the Arab world s commitment to the Arab peace initiative, the option of peace and the solution of two states, Palestine and Israel.
A Saudi-inspired Arab peace plan, which has been on the table since 2002, offers Israel full normalization of ties in return for its withdrawal from occupied Arab land.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem had also been expected at the Amman gathering, but Judeh said he had another previously scheduled trip.
Judeh said King Abdullah would convey the views of the Arab ministers when he meets US President Barack Obama in Washington, without giving a date for the trip.
The concept of a two-state solution, which would see a viable Palestinian state existing in peace alongside a secure Israel, is central to Obama s Middle East policy.
But it is unpopular in hawkish new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu s government. -AFP
