At Saudi summit, Arab leaders say Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be ignored

By Jacob Magid

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16 July 2022, 5:03 pm

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Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Jordan's King Abdullah II attends the Jeddah Security and Development Summit (GCC+3) at a hotel in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah on July 16, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)

While US President Joe Biden left Israel out of his remarks in Jeddah today, Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Qatar Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani brought up the Jewish state in the context of the Palestinian issue.

Abdullah warned that there would be no stability in the region without a solution to the conflict, and Sissi called for a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Al Thani offered a similar position before calling on members not to “abandon” the Arab Peace Initiative only because Israel has refused the proposal.

The 2002 proposal offers Israel full normalized relations with all 22 members of the Arab League if Israel agrees to a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders and with a just resolution for Palestinian refugees.