Arab League chief says peace requires two-state solution

Abul Gheit’s statement comes after Trump dropped America’s commitment to the idea at a press conference with Netanyahu

Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit said on Thursday that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would require a two-state solution, a day after Washington signaled it would drop that demand.

Abul Gheit affirmed that the conflict “requires a comprehensive and just peace based on a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state,” a statement said after he met UN chief Antonio Guterres in Cairo.

His comments came a day after US President Donald Trump met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and suggested a two-state solution was not necessary.

Guterres had also called for a two-state solution on Wednesday in a speech in Cairo, saying there was “no Plan B.”

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, DC on February 15, 2017, where both leaders refused to commit to the two-state model as a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Saul Loeb/AFP) — US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 15, 2017 (Saul Loeb/AFP)

The Arab League statement said he and Abul Gheit “agreed that the two-state solution remains the real way to achieving” peace.

For the better part of half a century, successive US governments — both Republican and Democrat — have backed a two-state solution, although the first to explicitly endorse it was president George W. Bush in 2002.

Palestinian Liberation Organization secretary-general Saeb Erekat said the PLO remained committed to two states and would oppose any system that discriminated against Palestinians.