IN A bid to pressure Israel into changing its policies on the Middle East peace process, Arab foreign ministers met at the Arab League yesterday to finalise their resolution calling for an end to the normalisation of relations with Israel.
The unanimously approved resolution recommended that Arab countries suspend normal relations with Israel, close Israeli missions, reactivate the economic boycott of Israel and withdraw from multilateral peace talks "until a just peace is achieved."
"We hope this action will make Israel change its policy of settlement building, which is contrary to the spirit and the letter of the peace process," said Mr Said Kamal, a Palestinian under secretary at the League.
Until the two day Arab League meeting in the Egyptian capital, Arab states had stopped short of taking any concrete action against the government of the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu.
This reluctance had persisted despite widespread public anger throughout the Arab world over the building of new Jewish homes in occupied East Jerusalem and the decision by the US to veto two UN Security Council resolutions criticising the plans.
"It [the resolution] is a clear message to Israel that continuing to deal with the peace process on this basis will destroy the peace process, said the Lebanese Foreign Minister, Mr Faris Bouez.
"It is also a clear message to the United States asking them to return to the principles of the peace process," he added.
The adoption of the resolutions reflects a victory for countries such as Syria and Lebanon, which oppose contacts with Israel.
Still, in a caveat that weakens the resolution and represents a compromise of the original version drafted by Syria, Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel, will not be affected.
The recommendations are therefore likely to have the most impact on Morocco, Tunisia, Oman and Qatar, all of which had responded to earlier progress in the peace process by establishing fledgling trade links with their former enemy.
"We were speaking about the latest steps taken by some Arab countries to normalise their relations. We didn't talk about those countries which signed peace agreements," said Mr Farouk Kaddoumi, the head of the PLO's political bureau.