Israel plots to annex more Palestinian territories — Arab League Chief

Arab League Secretary-General Ahmad Abul Gheit said on Wednesday Israel plans to legitimize its occupation of Palestinian lands in front of the international community.
Abul Gheit in an interview with the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the Middle East News Agency (MENA) Ali Hasan stressed that Israelis are seeking through the annexation plan to attribute a kind of false legitimacy to their occupation since 1967.
Abul Gheit said despite the apparent difficulties imposed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19), a meeting of the Arab League Council at the ministerial level took place last April and considered the Israeli annexation plan as a war crime, and Arab diplomatic moves that had been taken in New York were in this vein.
A global rejection and that Arab diplomacy has succeeded in mobilizing this refusal and articulating it so that Israel feels a degree of isolation, and this may have slowed and stalled the Israeli plan that was to take place. Its implementation was due on the first of July, he added.
The Arab peace initiative is still the only basis for a solution from the Arab side, it requires normal relations between Israel and the Arab world and Islam, he noted.
On Libyaآ’s problem, Abul Gheit underlined the importance of the Cairo Declaration initiative on Libya and mechanisms for dealing with the situation at the military, security, political and economic levels.
Libyan parties need to stop the fighting and engage in political process, a path welcomed by the Arab League Council in its recent emergency meeting and also received Arab, regional and international support, he noted.
“The Arab League cannot accept that the situation in Libya represents a threat to the security and stability of the immediate Arab neighbors, Egypt and Algeria,” Abul Gheit added.
As for the stance of regional and international interference in Libya, he pointed out that the Arab league is rejecting and condemning all forms of interference in Libya.
Answering a question on the Turkish ambitions in Arab resources through its interference in Syria, Iraq and Libya, he said that the “Arab League stance is clear rejecting Turkish interference in the Arab affairs.”
On Yemen, Abul Gheit said, the Yemeni scene is still very disturbing, expressing alarm at the political conflicts and the most serious humanitarian crisis.
Yemen suffers from several epidemics at the same time, COVID-19, Cholera, Malaria and that 80 percent of Yemeni people need urgent humanitarian assistance, he noted.
He added that attempts made by the UN to reach a political solution between the Houthis and the Yemeni government, while the Houthi decision is still contingent on Iran and it does not seem that they can get rid of this state’s control of the decision in Sanaa.
On Iraq, Abul Gheit said the new government is trying to preserve the stability of the country and defend its sovereignty in difficult circumstances, expressing regret that the regional interventions that deepen this country’s crisis and entrench existing conflicts in it.
On Syria’s restoration of its seat in the Arab League, Abul Gheit said, Syria is an Arab country and its place is ultimately among its nations.
Meanwhile, on Lebanon, he expressed his fear that the civil peace in Lebanon could be threatened by the tremendous economic and social pressures.
He issued an appeal to all countries and organizations not to leave Lebanon alone during their difficult circumstance, stressing a must solution to save the economic situation.

(MENAFN – Kuwait News Agency (KUNA))