Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar Assad (AP)
The Egyptian, Jordanian, and Israeli foreign ministers spoke at a press conference after their July 25 meeting in Jerusalem:
"The Arab peace initiative [is] the consensus of all the Arab member states of the Arab League, including the Palestinian Authority… to engage in serious negotiations with Israel, in order to achieve a final such settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians in establishing an independent Palestinian state and offering Israel the security that it needs. The initiative also means that we need to achieve comprehensive peace – that means peace on all tracks, on the Syrian-Israeli track, on the Lebanese-Israel track, to reach a comprehensive peace."
–Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul-Gheit
"Military means have not brought an end to the despair and hopelessness and injustice among people of this region that has resulted from the absence of peace; nor has it eliminated extremism. The time has come for genuine peace; peace that resonates with Palestinians and with Israelis and with all the people of the region. Now, more than ever before, people need to see results. And these results mean independence for the Palestinian people, security for Israel, and a future of hope for all of us."
–Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib
"I believe that this is an historic visit to Israel – it is a formal visit, it is a formal visit, following my formal visit to Cairo and our previous meeting. This is the first joint visit to Israel of members of the Arab Working Group established by the Arab League and I believe that this point in time is a crucial point in time, and there is an opportunity here. .. I want to make it clear that we are not looking for stagnation - the policy of the Israeli government is that stagnation is not an option."
–Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni
