The Arab League has declared that peace in the Middle East hinges on establishing a Palestinian state and halting Israel’s “hostile practices.” In a resolution introduced by Egypt and Saudi Arabia and passed on Thursday, the League emphasized that unresolved Palestinian rights and Israel’s aggressive conduct remain key barriers to regional harmony. This was adopted during a Cairo summit where foreign ministers endorsed a “Joint Vision for Security and Cooperation in the Region.”
The resolution comes amid escalating Israeli military operations encircling Gaza City, as well as remarks by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich advocating West Bank annexation—a move that would effectively eliminate the prospect of a Palestinian state.
The Arab League contends that peace, cooperation, and coexistence are unachievable so long as Israel maintains occupation of Arab territories or threatens further annexations. While Egypt and Jordan maintain peace treaties with Israel, and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco normalized ties under the 2020 Abraham Accords, Saudi Arabia halted its own normalization talks following Hamas’s October 2023 attack that triggered the Gaza conflict. The resolution reinforces the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, which links normalization of relations to a full Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 and calls for a two-state resolution. Egypt added that no one should be allowed to impose unilateral security arrangements that jeopardize regional stability.
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