By Manal Abdel Fattah
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, participated in a meeting hosted by the European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, today, Monday, in the presence of Josep Borrell, the High Representative for European Foreign Policy, and the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.
The official spokesman for the Secretary-General, Jamal Rushdi, stated that the meeting addressed the necessity of working immediately to stop the aggressive Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and deal with the effects of the humanitarian catastrophe that the residents of the Strip are experiencing.
The spokesman explained that the meeting witnessed broad agreement between the Arab and European sides that the two-state solution remains the only way to settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and that every attempt to delay the implementation of this solution or evade it exposes the security and stability of the region to danger.
The spokesman added that Aboul Gheit, along with the Arab ministers, listened to some serious European ideas to launch a credible peace process based on the two-state solution, and to reach a final settlement based on implementing this solution, by ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders.
The spokesman quoted Aboul Gheit as saying that many European ideas contain positive aspects regarding the political horizon required to end the conflict, and that what is required now is to combine words with action, calling on European countries to take a necessary initial step by recognizing the Palestinian state.
In a related context, Rushdi explained that Aboul Gheit met on the sidelines of the European meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tiani, where the latter listened to the vision of the Secretary-General of the Arab League for the situation in Gaza and the necessity of stopping the war and launching a political path leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state. The two parties also expressed their deep concern about the state of escalation in the region, especially in the Red Sea.
