The Ministerial Committee on the Arab Peace Initiative issued a statement at the conclusion of its meeting here last night chaired by Qatari Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani. The statement appreciated the position expressed by U.S. President Barack Obama about his commitment to peace on the basis of a two-state solution based on 4th June 1967 lines with the State of Palestine's borders with Egypt and Jordan and Israel. The statement said that the Committee reached this position after discussing the US president's speech delivered on 19/05/2011 and Israeli Prime Minister's response to it. The committee stressed, "its rejection of the address delivered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the US Congress on 24th of this month," noting that, "it interrupted the path towards making any progress in the achievement of peace according to the international legitimacy resolutions." Within this context, "the committee holds Israel fully responsible for the failure of peace process due to the latter's persistence in its aggression on the Palestinian people, and its insistence on rejecting the two-state principle along the frontiers of 1967." "The Committee holds Israel fully responsible for the continuance of its settlement activities, particularly in (the occupied) East Jerusalem as a substitute for peace, and in the face of the international unanimity on the illegitimacy of constructing settlements, while calling on the US Congress to revise its stances, and keep to a balanced attitude to protect the US interests and its role in achieving peace. "Further, the committee stressed that, "The Israeli government should accept the frames of reference of the peace process including the land for peace principle and the two-state solution based on the frontiers of 1967 along with stopping settlement construction as the only way for resuming the final status negotiations which have been long stressed by the Palestinian side." --MORE
