ARAB FM's CALL FOR LIFTING GAZA SIEGE

Cairo, 19 Safar 1435/22 December 2013 (MINA) – The council of Arab foreign ministers called for lifting the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for the seventh year unabated.

The foreign ministers in a statement, issued at the conclusion of the emergency meeting of the council which was held at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Saturday, stressed the Arab position that calls for lifting the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip and immediately achieving the Palestinian reconciliation.

The ministers also affirmed their adherence to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the entire Palestinian territories that were occupied in 1967 and with East Jerusalem as its capital, Palestinian Information Center reported as quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

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They said this position is consistent with “the Arab peace initiative and the relevant international legitimacy resolutions, particularly the Security Council resolution No. 252 issued in 1968 and the principle of land for peace, with the rejection of all Israeli procedures, plans and policies that aim to change the demographic and geographic reality in the occupied Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem.”

The council said that the resumption of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations was the result of the support of the permanent members of the UN Security Council to the Arab position that demands ending the occupation and changing the international approach followed in addressing the Palestinian cause, in order to end the conflict and achieve a comprehensive peace.

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“The American administration has provided the guarantees necessary for the resumption of negotiations, in accordance with the principles of the international legitimacy and with a time frame of nine months starting from the end of July 2013 until April 2014.”

The council instructed Libya’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the current head of the council, and the Secretary General of the Arab League to send a written letter to the U.S. Secretary of State to confirm the Arab position towards the Palestinian cause.(T/P03/P04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)