EGYPT-PALESTINIANS/ARAB FOREIGN MINISTERS Arab FMs meet to discuss Palestinians' hopes for peace
Record ID:
144962
EGYPT-PALESTINIANS/ARAB FOREIGN MINISTERS Arab FMs meet to discuss Palestinians' hopes for peace
- Title: EGYPT-PALESTINIANS/ARAB FOREIGN MINISTERS Arab FMs meet to discuss Palestinians' hopes for peace
- Date: 6th August 2015
- Summary: CAIRO, EGYPT (AUGUST 5, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ARAB LEAGUE HEADQUARTERS VARIOUS OF ARAB FLAGS SAUDI OFFICIAL ENTERING HEADQUARTERS ARAB LEAGUE SECRETARY GENERAL NABIL AL-ARABY WAITING OUTSIDE HEADQUARTERS PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS WALKING TOWARDS SEAT INSIDE HEADQUARTERS VARIOUS OF ARAB DELEGATES DELEGATES TAKING SEATS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PALESTINIAN PRESIDE
- Embargoed: 21st August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Egypt
- Country: Egypt
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA89RSI1UG62M811LU42RWS7PXB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Arab foreign ministers met at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on Wednesday (August 5) to discuss Palestine's hopes for peace.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri spoke to delegates to affirm his support for Palestine.
"The Palestinian cause will remain the most important cause for the Arab nation," Shukri said.
He added that he believed the lack of progress in peace talks had led to heightened tensions between Israel and Palestine.
"The procrastination in solving the root of the problem through legal international decisions has caused a dark shadow on the whole region and multiplied its crisis," Shukri said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was at the meeting of delegates to lay his cards on the table.
He said it was more important than ever to establish peace in the region.
"Especially because Israel continues their settlement policies, where it gives grants to build thousands of settlement units and it continues its crimes by the herds of settlers, which ended with the burning of the Dawabsha family member," Abbas said.
Jewish settlers were suspected of torching a Palestinian home in the occupied West Bank on Friday (July 31), killing an 18-month-old child and seriously injuring his parents and brother, an act that Israel's prime minister described as terrorism.
It was the worst attack by Israeli assailants since a Palestinian teenager was burned to death in Jerusalem a year ago. That followed the killing of three Israeli teenagers by Palestinian militants in the West Bank.
Fearing the killing would provoke violence in Jerusalem, police restricted entrance to al-Aqsa mosque for Friday prayers to men over the age of 50 and to women.
"The committee is meeting today on a ministerial level to discuss the critical and dangerous situation in the occupied territories after the escalation of Israeli hostilities at the Aqsa mosque and to Palestinian citizens," said Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby.
Israeli Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the torching appeared to have been a "Price Tag" attack, a reference to settlers who exact retribution for Israeli government curbs on settlement expansion.
Israel tore down two illegal structures in the Beit El settlement near Ramallah and removed dozens of people from another settlement near Nablus on July 29, prompting protests.
The "Price Tag" group has been blamed for torching a number of mosques and homes in the West Bank in recent years. Those attacks caused damage but no casualties.
Though Israel has promised to crack down on such assailants, only a handful of indictments have been handed down.
The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, they have limited self rule but nearly 60 percent of the territory remains under control of the Israeli military.
Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law. The last round of U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2014. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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