Palestine has decided to give up its right to chair the Council of the League of Arab States (LAS) at its current session in response to the normalization of relations with Israel by the two Arab Gulf nations earlier in September, Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Tuesday, as quoted by the official WAFA news agency
RAMALLAH (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd September, 2020) Palestine has decided to give up its right to chair the Council of the League of Arab States (LAS) at its current session in response to the normalization of relations with Israel by the two Arab Gulf nations earlier in September, Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Tuesday, as quoted by the official WAFA news agency.
On September 15, Israel signed US-brokered landmark agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on the normalization of ties. The two Persian Gulf states have become the third and fourth Arab countries, respectively, after Egypt and Jordan that have recognized Israel. The countries are expected to exchange ambassadors, set up air connections and work on bilateral cooperation in various areas.
"The State of Palestine has decided to relinquish and forsake its right to preside over the Arab League Council because it is not an honor for it to watch the rush of the Arabs toward normalization (of relations with Israel) while it serves as the chair (of the Arab League)," al-Maliki told a press conference at the Ramallah-based ministry's headquarters, describing this period as "grim."
The minister affirmed that Palestine would not withdraw from the organization, as its way out "would create a vacuum" and might result in different scenarios that the state did not want to deal with "at this sensitive stage."
The high-ranking Palestinian official said that there were a number of Arab states that had a firm position in connection with the recent Israel-linked developments and expressed hope that they would remain committed to the LAS' decisions and the 2002 peace initiative.
At the 2002 Arab League's Beirut summit, the member states adopted the Arab Peace Initiative that made the normalization of ties with Israel factually conditional on the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which, among other things, provided for the creation of an independent Palestinian State with borders as they used to be prior to the 1967 Six-Day War with the capital in East Jerusalem.
The initiative also stipulated Israel's withdrawal from all occupied territories and the return of Palestinian refugees to the area.
