Dubai: UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash said Monday that the UAE renewed its ‘historic and ongoing support for the Palestinian cause and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people’.
He made the comments at an emergency meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah.
On his part, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel Al Jubeir, said: “We reaffirm our support for the Palestinian people in a manner that guarantees their legitimate rights.”
The summit, in their final communique, rejected Trump's Middle East Peace plan.
The comments come after both Saudi Arabia and the US last week praised US efforts to reach a solution on the Palestinian issue.
Last week, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman reassured the Kingdom’s commitment to the Palestinian issue and Palestinian rights, in a phone call with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
The statement further added that Saudi Arabia encourages starting direct peace negotiations between Palestine and Israel under US auspices.
The UAE ambassador to Washington Yousuf Al Otaiba and the Egyptian foreign ministry issued similar statements.
Arab character of Jerusalem stressed
Under the US plan unveiled last week, Israel would retain control of the occupied city of Jerusalem as its "undivided capital" and annex colonies on Palestinian lands.
The OIC reiterated its support for east Jerusalem as capital of a future Palestinian state, stressing its "Arab and Islamic character".
It said peace would "only be achieved with the end of the Israeli occupation, the full withdrawal from the territory of the State of Palestine in particular the holy city of Al-Quds Al-Sharif (Jerusalem) and the other Arab territories occupied since (the) June 1967 War".
The Arab League on Saturday also rejected the controversial plan, saying at a meeting in Cairo that it did not meet the "minimum rights" of the Palestinians.
They insisted on a two-state solution that includes a Palestinian state based on borders before the 1967 war - when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza - and with east Jerusalem as its capital.
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas announced in Cairo that he will cut all ties with Israel and the US.
"We are informing you that there will be no relations with you (Israel) and the United States, including on security cooperation," he said.
The Trump plan also gives Israel the green light to annex the strategic Jordan Valley - making up 30 per cent of the West Bank - and all Jewish colonies, which number more than 200.
