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Iraq: Arab League’s statement on Jerusalem ‘disappointing’

December 11, 2017 at 9:01 am

Arab League foreign ministers’ emergency meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo on 9 December 2017 [Stringer/Anadolu Agency]

The Arab League’s statement on Jerusalem was “weak” and “disappointing”, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Spokesman of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry Ahmad Mahjoub said the Arab League rejected an Iraqi proposal that included “taking collective diplomatic and economic measures” against Israel to maintain the rights of the Palestinians and Jerusalem as the capital of their state.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari had expressed his sadness that the statement of the Arab League was “below the needed level” and “it did not match the threats facing glorious Jerusalem”.

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Mahjoub stressed that the proposal of the Iraqi delegation to the Arab League’s meeting “expressed the hopes of the Arab nations who wanted to support the Palestinian cause and face the challenges against it.”

An Iraqi MP told the Anadolu Agency that the Arab League’s statement was “in favour of Israel”, noting that the US president would issue more decisions in favour of Israel and against Arabs and Muslims after seeing this weak response.

The statement of the Arab League, which convened on Saturday, criticised Washington’s to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and stressed this contradicted the terms of the international law, as well as undermining the two-state solution.