The Arab league has dismissed an Israeli proposal that calls for normal relations with Arab countries in return for a partial freeze on its settlement activity on Palestinian land.
During a joint news conference with the leader of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas in Cairo, Arab League Chief Amr Moussa said that Israel must forget about establishing relations with Arab states before a full settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem (al-Quds).
"It is impossible to speak of normalization when Israel rejects any significant measure. Israel persists in its intransigent position and rejects every significant measure" concerning a freeze on settlement constructions,” Amr Moussa said Sunday.
"I don't believe that any Arab government can offer Israel the gift (of normalization on a silver platter. This issue of normalization must be closed," he continued.
Palestinian leader Khaled Meshaal, who is in Cairo for talks with mediators brokering a reconciliation with political rivals Fatah, also warned about the Israeli proposal and called it "dangerous".
The remarks came after Tel Aviv termed a planned freeze in its settlement expansion as a "strategic pause" and pledged to continue building within existing ones under the pretext of meeting "natural growth".
The Arab league chief had earlier called on Israel to quickly heed to international demands and end the expansion of Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, which is considered the main obstacle to peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Last week, Amr Moussa told Israeli President Shimon Peres in Italy that if Tel Aviv continues to ignore principles of the two-state solution --which the Arab League favors--, then the organization would shift to "a single state of Israelis and Palestinians in which Jews would not dominate - effectively ending the state of Israel".
Currently only two Arab countries --Egypt and Jordan-- have diplomatic relations with Israel.
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