The Arab Peace Initiative
March 28, 2002
The Council of Arab States at the Summit Level at
its 14th Ordinary Session, reaffirming the resolution taken in June 1996 at the
Cairo Extra-Ordinary Arab Summit that a just and comprehensive peace in the
Middle East is the strategic option of the Arab countries, to be achieved in
accordance with international legality, and which would require a comparable
commitment on the part of the Israeli government.
Having listened to the statement made by his
royal highness Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, crown prince of the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia, in which his highness presented his initiative calling for full
Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, in
implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, reaffirmed by the
Madrid Conference of 1991 and the land-for-peace principle, and Israel's
acceptance of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its
capital, in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a
comprehensive peace with Israel.
Emanating from the conviction of the Arab
countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or
provide security for the parties, the council:
1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and
declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.
2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:
I- Full Israeli withdrawal from all the
territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights, to the
June 4, 1967 lines as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in
the south of Lebanon.
II- Achievement of a just solution to the
Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General
Assembly Resolution 194.
III- The acceptance of the establishment of a
sovereign independent Palestinian state on the Palestinian territories
occupied since June 4, 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East
Jerusalem as its capital.
3. Consequently, the Arab countries affirm the
following
I- Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended,
and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the
states of the region
II- Establish normal relations with Israel in
the context of this comprehensive peace.
4. Assures the rejection of all forms of
Palestinian patriation which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab
host countries
5. Calls upon the government of Israel and all
Israelis to accept this initiative in order to safeguard the prospects for peace
and stop the further shedding of blood, enabling the Arab countries and Israel
to live in peace and good neighborliness and provide future generations with
security, stability and prosperity
6. Invites the international community and all
countries and organizations to support this initiative.
7. Requests the chairman of the summit to form a
special committee composed of some of its concerned member states and the
secretary general of the League of Arab States to pursue the necessary contacts
to gain support for this initiative at all levels, particularly from the United
Nations, the Security Council, the United States of America, the Russian
Federation, the Muslim states and the European Union.
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