Arab bloc says no peace without end to 'hostile' Israel actions

The Arab League has said that peaceful coexistence in the Middle East cannot be achieved without a Palestinian state and an end to what it described as Israel's "hostile practices".

In a resolution submitted by Egypt and Saudi Arabia and adopted on Thursday, the League said that "the failure to reach a just solution to the Palestinian cause and the hostile practices of the occupying power" remain major obstacles to "peaceful coexistence" in the region.

The resolution was part of a wider meeting in Cairo where foreign ministers endorsed a "Joint Vision for Security and Cooperation in the Region".

The meeting came as Israeli forces intensified their military offensive around Gaza City -- the territory's largest urban centre -- and days after Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for annexation of swathes of the West Bank to "bury the idea of a Palestinian state".

In the resolution, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, the Arab bloc said that lasting peace, cooperation and coexistence in the Middle East are not possible while Israel continues to occupy Arab land or "issues implicit threats to occupy or annex further Arab lands".

Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with Israel.

The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalised relations with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords.

However, Saudi Arabia's own normalisation talks with Israel were frozen after Hamas's October 2023 attack sparked the Gaza war.

In its resolution, the League said any lasting settlement must be based on a two-state solution and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which offers a full normalisation of relations in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied in 1967.

Egypt said on Friday that there was "no room for allowing any party to dominate the region or enforce unilateral security arrangements that compromise its security and stability".