The Initiative's Current Status
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Jordan and Egypt were appointed by the Arab League as its representatives to meet with Israeli leaders to promote the Initiative. These countries were chosen because Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel. Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit met with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem on July 25, 2007, which was the first time that Israel received an official delegation from the Arab League.
The Arab League also sent President-Elect Obama an official communication that was signed by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and delivered to Obama via an aide. A spokesman for the Arab League explained that:
The letter explains our stance on the conflict, focusing on the Arab peace proposal. This is a new administration. It is important that we follow up with it and that it assumes its responsibilities. The new administration will be busy with other things, but we think that it is important for it to focus on the Arab–Israeli conflict.In November 2008, The Sunday Times reported that U.S. president-elect Barack Obama is going to support the plan, saying to Mahmoud Abbas during his July 2008 visit to the Middle East that "The Israelis would be crazy not to accept this initiative. It would give them peace with the Muslim world from Indonesia to Morocco." After becoming president, Obama told Al Arabiya, "I might not agree with every aspect of the proposal, but it took great courage... to put forward something that is as significant as that."
George Mitchell, the United States special envoy to the Middle East, announced in March 2009 that the Obama administration intends to "incorporate" the initiative into its Middle East policy. It was also reported in March 2009 that the U.S. State Department is preparing a plan to market the Initiative to Israelis, and will release a document highlighting the gestures that Arab nations have agreed to take under the initiative. The report specified that the purpose was to "break down the Arab Peace Initiative into its details and not leave it as a purely theoretical framework."
On May 6, 2009, Al-Quds al-Arabi, the London-based Arabic language daily, reported that as per a request from U.S. President Barack Obama the Arab League is currently in the process of revising the initiative in an effort to encourage Israel to agree to it. The new revisions include a demilitarization of the future Palestinian state as well as a forfeiture of the Palestinian right of return to Israel proper. According to the revisions, a portion of the refugees would be relocated to the future Palestinian state, and the rest would be naturalized in other Arab countries.
Read more about this topic: Arab Peace Initiative
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