An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday called on the Arab Summit, to be held in Damascus, to maintain the Arab peace initiative and not to withdraw it.
Nemer Hamad, a member of the Palestinian delegation headed by Abbas, told Xinhua in an interview "I believe that annulling or withdrawing the Arab peace initiative doesn't serve the Arab cause at all."
The Arab Summit that was held in Beirut in 2002 approved a peace initiative, presented by Saudi Arabia at that time to solve peacefully the Arab-Israeli conflict and resolve the Palestinian question.
"Logically, I think that the Arabs should keep and maintain the Arab peace initiative even if it was rejected by Israel," Hamad said.
The peace conference held in U.S. Annapolis in last November had approved the peace initiative as a base for ending the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel had also announced that the initiative is a base for ending the conflict, but it never says clearly whether it accepts it or not.
"Withdrawing the initiative during the upcoming summit would give Israel the excuse and the opportunity to freeze the initiative," said Hamad.
Hamad said President Abbas will arrive in Damascus on Friday. The Palestinian National Authority Minister of Foreign Affairs Reyad al-Maliki joined on Thursday the meeting of the AL foreign ministers meeting.
Asked about the Yemeni initiative of reconciliation between rival Fatah and Hamas movements, Hamad said "We accept the initiative and we want it to be implemented soon and not to be theagenda for an endless dialogue."
Hamad affirmed that the first clause of the initiative which calls for ending Hamas control of the Gaza Strip "should be implemented first in order to begin a comprehensive and constructive dialogue (with Hamas)."
He denied that a meeting between Abbas and exiled Hamas politburo leader Khaled Mashaal is scheduled to be held in Damascus under a Syrian sponsorship, saying "President Abbas is not intending to meet anyone from Hamas in Damascus."
Source:Xinhua
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