Foreign minister: Egypt ready to exert all efforts to activate Arab peace initiative

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri said Egypt is ready to exert all efforts to activate the Arab Peace Initiative.

Giving Egypt's word at the inaugural session of a Paris-hosted ministerial meeting on the Middle East peace process on Friday, the minister thanked French President Francois Hollande and his government on the initiative to hold a meeting to revive the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

He voiced his appreciation of the French call for foreign ministers of 26 countries to convene to debate reaching a real settlement to the Palestinian issue, saying the French initiative is out of keenness on preserving regional and international stability.

The Arabs remember France's historic stances in support of the Palestinian rights in establishing an independent State, the minister added. 

As of November 22, 1974, France voted in favor of the recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization as a UN observer, Shoukri said, underlining that the Palestinian rights are "inalienable".

Also, former French president Francois Mitterrand was the first Western president to announce his support for the establishment of an independent Palestinian State before the Knesset in 1982, he said. 

He added the Palestinian issue passed through different stages starting from the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991, the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 and 1995, the Wye River Memorandum in 1998, the Camp David Summit in 2000, the Taba Summit in 2001, the adoption of the Arab Peace Initiative in Beirut in 2002 and the Sharm El Sheikh Summit in 2005.

He noted that the European Union adopted the idea of the acknowledgment of the Palestinian State in Berlin on March 25, 1999. 

This step was followed by former US president George Bush's speech in 2002, in which he called on the Palestinians and Israelis to live side by side in peace and security, the minister said.

He warned of repeating the utterance that the status quo is the best option to deal with the Middle East peace process during the current period.

Shifting to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's recent statements on the Palestinian issue, Shoukri cited Sisi's words in which he stressed the importance of "collective effort" to find a real settlement to the Palestinian issue in way that meets the aspirations of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples and paves the way to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the region. 

He urged the United States, Russia and European countries to cooperate with countries in the region to revive the stalled Middle East peace process.

Egypt is ready to exert utmost efforts to create an atmosphere for activating the Arab Peace Initiative, he reiterated, adding the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations should be based on "the principle of land for peace" and UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 and UNSC Resolution 1397 that backed a two-state solution. 

Shoukri is leading Egypt's delegation to the Paris-hosted meeting.

Arab League Secretary General Nabil el Arabi, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini participate in the meeting.

The meeting aims at debating the stalemate in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. 

The Elysee said the meeting will also allow participants to renew their adherence to the two-state solution and their determination to create an atmosphere to resume direct talks between the two sides.

A French diplomatic source said his country's adoption of an initiative to revive the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations is out of its conviction of the deterioration of the situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Source ; MENA