Ammon News - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi, stressed on Wednesday, the importance of activating collective Arab action to address common challenges and serve Arab interests.

Delivering the Kingdom's speech during the 155th regular session of the Arab League at the level of foreign ministers, he said the Arab action to support the Palestinian people and achieve progress towards a just peace that meets all their legitimate rights is a "pressing" necessity.

He added: "We meet less than a month after our meeting in an extraordinary session, which confirmed our firm principles regarding our first central issue, and our keenness to translate it into a joint action to find a true horizon to end the occupation and achieve a comprehensive and just peace."

Safadi noted this is a "strategic" option whose only way is the two-state solution, which embodies the independent, sovereign Palestinian state with occupied Jerusalem as its capital, on the June 4, 1967 lines, to live in peace and security alongside Israel, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.

The FM continued: "It is time for this action is now, for there are signs announced by the new American administration and European and international positions that require the initiative to interact with it to present the unified Arab position regarding the requirements for achieving a comprehensive peace and garner support for it."
There is a risk of continuing illegal Israeli measures that undermine all opportunities to achieve a just and comprehensive peace. Collective action is needed to confront settlement expansion and mobilize an international position to address its devastating threat to the chances of achieving peace, according to the minister.

The minister added: "Our voice should be strong and our action sustained in protecting Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian sanctities, which is the priority that the Kingdom devotes to all efforts to preserve the Arab Islamic and Christian identity of the holy sites and protect their historic and legal status, under the guidance and follow-up of their custodian, His Majesty King Abdullah II."

Support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is a necessity and all efforts should be intensified in this direction, the minister told his Arab counterpart.

The minister said that "Arabs want a just peace and work for it. We affirm that occupation, oppression and deprivation do not make peace nor end a conflict."
Therefore, the occupation, the oppression and deprivation must end, so that our region can enjoy the security, stability and achievement that its people deserve, according to Safadi.

During the previous meeting, the Arab top diplomats "unanimously" agreed to modernize the mechanisms of joint Arab action, to make them effective and able to face the challenges that ravage the Arab world in this "difficult" Arab era, he said.

Safadi also stressed the need for an action program to identify practical steps in facing common challenges, to be a starting point for an influential Arab project to restore the Arab role in protecting common interests after others have filled the void created by our absence.

Calling for institutional action mechanisms that update and support the Arab League's work tools, he said this effort would ensure a collective Arab role in endeavors to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis, that preserves its unity and cohesion, saves it from terrorism, leads to the exit of all foreign forces from it, and creates conditions that allow the voluntary return of refugees.

On the Middle East turbulence, he called for a collective role in supporting efforts to solve the Libyan and the Yemeni crises and the subsequent devastation and suffering, and support the Iraqi government in its efforts to stabilize and support Iraq's "great" victory over terrorism, crystallize institutional work to combat terrorism and take the necessary steps to prevent foreign interference in our Arab affairs, protect the national state and the Arab water security.

Safadi also stressed that the security of the Arab Gulf is integral part of pan-Arab security, adding that the Kingdom condemns in the "strongest" terms the terrorist Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, and voices "full" support and "absolute" solidarity with Saudi Arabia regarding any step it takes to protect its security and interests and face all challenges.

The FM called for strengthening institutional work in the economic, commercial, scientific, and educational fields, as well as food and drug security, to achieve "true" integration that maximizes our capabilities to benefit from joint "great" human energies and the diverse resources.