Arab states in video summit as Israel set te extend sovereignty

FPI / April 29, 2020

The Arab League has scheduled an urgent conference to forge a plan to confront Israel's plans to apply sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria.

The meeting, scheduled for April 30 at the request of the Palestinian Authority, will bring together Arab foreign ministers via video conference, rather than a face-to-face meeting, due to the global coronavirus pandemic.

Arab League chief Ahmed Ahmed Aboul Gheit, in a message to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres last week, had warned against Israel's plans, saying it risks "igniting tension in the region".

The Arab League's deputy secretary Hossam Zaki said the ministers will "discuss in their virtual meeting providing political, legal and financial support to the Palestinian leadership to confront the Israeli plans".

Gheit also accused Israel of "exploiting the world's preoccupation with the novel coronavirus to impose a new reality on the ground."

Israel's plans for Judea and Samaria are in sync with the Trump administration’s recently released Middle East peace plan.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political rival Benny Gantz signed a deal for a unity government that could accelerate the plans this summer.

"Those Israeli plans — while subject to caveats, including the need to maintain "regional stability" and uphold the peace agreement with Jordan — have drawn wide criticism including from the United Nations and the European Union, despite support from the U.S. under the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan," Israel's Arutz Sheva noted in an April 27 report.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that a decision regarding the application of Israeli sovereignty over parts of Judea and Samaria was up to Israel's new unity government.

Free Press International