NEW YORK — Members of the Arab Peace Initiative Committee and European countries sponsoring peace gathered on roundtable meeting in New York on Wednesday to revive the Arab Peace Initiative based on invitation from the Saudi Arabia to hold such a meeting. Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan, and the Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed About Gheit called for the meeting on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The meeting comes on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Kingdom's launch of the Arab Peace Initiative, hosted by the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. The meeting aims to build on the Arab Peace Initiative, which remains the starting point for the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic stance and a fundamental basis for any solution to the peace process for international partners, and in the absence of prospects for a political solution to end the conflict. Also it aims to highlight the alarming deterioration of the humanitarian situation, and the growing threats, with the rapid growth of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, and fears of a new wave of violence threatening the brotherly Palestinian people and exposing the security and stability of the region to grave danger. The Kingdom launched the Arab Peace Initiative, which was adopted by the Arab League at the Beirut Summit in 2002, supported by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and welcomed by the European Union, the United Nations, and the rest of the international community. Despite the passage of two decades, it remains the mainstay for reaching a lasting, comprehensive, and just peace agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
