The Arab League rejected the US recognition of Israeli control over the Golan Heights and other Trump administration policies seen as unfairly biased towards Israel at an annual summit on Sunday, showcasing unity on one of the few issues that unites the regional bloc.

Arab leaders also reiterated their commitment to resolving the conflict based on the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, in which they would recognise Israel in return for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights as well as east Jerusalem and the West Bank, lands occupied in the 1967 war.

This year's Arab League summit, held in Tunisia, comes against a grim backdrop of ongoing wars in Syria and Yemen, rival authorities in Libya and a lingering boycott of Qatar by four fellow League members.

Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Sudan's President Omar Al Bashir skipped the meeting as they contend with mass protests against their long reigns.

Representatives from the 22-member league - minus Syria - jointly condemned President Donald Trump's recognition of Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights and his decision last year to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

At the opening of the summit, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, said Saudi Arabia "absolutely rejects any measures undermining Syria's sovereignty over the Golan Heights" and supports the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, with east Jerusalem as its capital.

One of the few things that have united the Arab League over the last 50 years is the rejection of Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights as well as east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories that the Palestinians want for their future state.

Source: Khaleej Times

BDST: 1008 HRS, APR 1, 2019
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