Trump’s Mideast peace plan ‘starting point’ for negotiations with Israel: Gargash

Trump’s Mideast peace plan ‘starting point’ for negotiations with Israel: Gargash
February 1, 2020, 11:59 am

UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash. (File photo AFP)

Arab leaders should take US President Donald Trump’s Mideast peace plan as a “starting point” for negotiations with Israel, the UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on Saturday.

In an address to the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), who will be holding a session to discuss the plan on Saturday, Gargash said that the organizations must come out with a “constructive stance.”

“It is important for the Arab League meeting today and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to come out with a constructive stance that goes beyond the statements of condemnation,” Gargash wrote on his official Twitter page.

He added that negotiating with Israel would not mean the total acceptance of the plan, but would be the start of trying to reach a political solution.

The organizations must find “a realistic stance” and a “positive strategy” to deal with the issue at hand.

Arab countries’ support for and faith in the Palestinian cause should not be dismissed, however, it is not enough to change the balance of influence and power, the minister said.

Instead, the Palestinian authority should respond to the peace plan with negotiations, he added.

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