Arab League seeks world action against Israeli occupation

A general view shows the main hall of the Arab League headquarters ahead of a meeting to elect a new secretary general of the Arab League in the Egyptian capital Cairo, in this March 10, 2016 photo. (AFP)

CAIRO: The Arab League has urged the international community and the Arab world to put an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and to implement the international resolutions pertaining to the two-state solution.
The call came as the Israeli occupation forces continued their crackdown on Palestinians. Ten were arrested on Sunday in different Palestinian towns, and fishermen’s boats were targeted in Rafah waters.
The Arab League called for intensified Arab and international efforts to mobilize support for the Palestinian cause, work to end the Israeli occupation and implement the two-state solution in accordance with international law.
The bloc’s assistant secretary-general in charge of Palestinian affairs and the occupied Arab territories, Ambassador Said Abu Ali, criticized the lack of international will to end the Israeli occupation and enable the Palestinian people to obtain their right to self-determination and establish their independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.
He was addressing the 97th four-day meeting of the Conference of Supervisors of Palestinian Affairs in Arab states hosting refugees, which started on Sunday in Cairo.
Abu Ali called for 2017 to be the year that marks the end the Israeli occupation, stressing the need to work for a solution to the shortage of finances for UNRWA's budget.
Zakariya Al-Agha, head of the Department of Palestinian Refugee Affairs of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, expressed hope that the new US administration will take a different stance from the one declared during the electoral campaign, one that respects the two-state solution endorsed by previous US administrations.
Al-Agha also expressed hope that an international conference for peace could be held before the end of this year based on the French initiative.
He warned that Israel wishes to spread fear of chaos and sectarianism in the Arab region among its own people in an effort to justify its desire to control the region's resources and wealth.
“The Israeli occupation is working to legalize the settlement outposts and to silence mosque loudspeakers which threatens to drag the whole region into disaster and trigger a religious war,” Al-Agha said.
He also pointed out that the siege and repeated aggression against Gaza is choking the strip's economy and has raised the levels of unemployment.