Arab FMs pledge to support Obama's approach to peace

CAIRO, June 24 Arab foreign ministers pledged on Wednesday to take required steps to support U.S. approach of achieving a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. After an extraordinary meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Arab foreign ministers welcomed the positive points in U.S. President Barack Obama's speech which he delivered at Cairo University on June 4. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa (L) attends the Arab League emergency foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo, capital of Egypt, on June 24, 2009. The Arab League held the meeting on Wednesday to discuss U.S. President Barack Obama's recent speech made in Cairo to the Muslim world. (Xinhua/Zhang Ning) In his speech, Obama vowed to find a fair solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Obama administration had urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept the two-state solution and freeze the construction of settlements in the West Bank. Arab foreign ministers welcomed Obama's proposals to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict, according to a statement issued after the meeting. They stressed that resuming talks with the Israeli side should rely on halting all settlements activity, adding that they prefer achieving comprehensive peace in the Middle East according to the Arab peace initiative. The Arab peace initiative, which embodies the two-state guideline, was proposed by Saudi Arabia and adopted in the Arab summit held in Beirut in 2002. It offers the Arab acceptance of the Jewish state in exchange for an independent Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders. A comprehensive peace would not be achieved without ending Israeli occupation and withdrawal from all Arab occupied territories and solving the issue of the Palestinian refugees, said the foreign ministers. Source: Xinhua