August 24, 2011
Pledge to move ahead with Palestine's UN bid
The Arab League’s Peace Initiative Committee yesterday pledged to move ahead with the decision to go to the United Nations to secure full membership for the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The meeting also approved a work plan to build up international support for the Palestinian bid for the UN.
HE the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani said the meeting discussed issues relevant to the committee’s mission and a follow-up of the (Palestinian-Israeli) peace process.
He said that an extraordinary meeting would be held in Cairo next Saturday to discuss what should be done to sustain the Palestinian cause, and to study the return of Libya’s membership at the Arab League.
He said that the Israeli attacks in Gaza were unjustifiable and could not be accepted.
“Moreover, as Israel continues the construction of new settlements, any hope on progress in the peace process diminishes.”
However, Arabs wanted peace and would always work for it, he added.
The meeting statement held fast to the Arab decision to go to the United Nations to secure the full membership of the State of Palestine on the basis of the June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The committee asked the secretary general of the Arab League to continue his contacts with political and geographical groups as well as the heads of regional and international organisations to get necessary support to guarantee the success of the Arab move.
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HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim said that Syria was an important Arab country and stability there was crucial to the Arab world. “Its location is important for it has borders with Israel.”
He also said the situation in Syria was different from that in Libya because the government there had already promised political reforms. However there must be a time schedule to implement such reforms. There should also be a strategy to carry them out as soon as possible.
He said the extraordinary meeting next Saturday in Cairo would discuss the situation in Libya as well as Syria. The Arab countries would study methods to help stabilise the situation in Syria. He affirmed that the bloodbath in Syria should stop immediately.
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=454588&version=1&template_id=57&parent_id=56
August 23, 2011
The ministers of Arab states including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, convening in Doha for a meeting of the Arab League's peace process committee, also called on the U.N. Security Council to urgently release $2.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets to pay salaries and meet humanitarian needs in Libya.
They reviewed "recent developments there which signal that the Libyan people are near to realising their aspirations for freedom and human dignity", said an official statement released after the meeting and obtained by Reuters.
They proposed inviting the Libyan rebel council to an Aug. 27 Arab League ministerial meeting to discuss events in the Arab world, including in Libya and Syria.
"The attendees called on all Libyan forces to show a spirit of mercy and a rejection of revenge ... for the sake of building a new Libya," it said.
They said the $2.5 billion in frozen funds should be released before Eid al-Fitr, a holiday which falls next week and marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFL5E7JN28420110823
