BAGHDAD, March 29, 2012 (WAFA) – President Mahmoud Abbas Thursday urged to implement the Arab initiative for peace process adopted in the Arab Summit in Beirut in 2002 to reach a just and comprehensive peace that ends the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Abbas, in his address to the Arab Summit in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, urged to reactivate the initiative on both political and media levels in the Arab world and the world, as well as form a special committee to study and achieve its implementation.

He stressed the importance of the initiative and prompted the international community to adopt it, especially that Israel will not respond or even consider it.

Abbas noted in his speech the letter he will send to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in which Abbas will demand the Israeli government to set its official position from the peace process references and the continuous settlements activities.

The letter also will review the Israeli violations in the occupied Palestinian Territory, especially the continuous settlement activities, said Abbas, adding that such violations “aim to undermine the purpose of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to end the occupation and achieve independence for the Palestinian people.”

The President stressed the importance of drawing attention to what is happening in the Palestinian Territory, especially the escalating Israeli aggression and de-facto policies to annex Palestinian land to Israel and establish separate cantons under the complete Israeli control.

Such actions aim to eliminate the possibility of achieving the two-state solution, added Abbas.

He stressed the incessant Palestinian internal efforts to implement the reconciliation agreement and end the division.

Abbas reiterated the importance of East Jerusalem issue in the peace process and called on to prioritize the holy city and stand in solidarity with Palestinian residents in Jerusalem who are being terrorized by the Israeli government through land confiscations, withdrawal of residency, house demolitions and isolation of the city from its Palestinian surroundings.

He called on the Arab countries to work on supporting the infrastructure in East Jerusalem, and to uphold a previous commitment to grant $500 million in support of al-Quds, as well as he called on Arabs, Muslims and Christians around the world to visit the holy city.

“We have absolute faith that the issue of Jerusalem remains a center point of the joint Arab work and relations,” said Abbas. He further praised the Moroccan Jerusalem Fund for its contributions in protecting East Jerusalem.

R.Q./F.R.