Arab League foreign ministers meeting in emergency session in Egypt called on Sunday for a fresh international peace conference to resolve the Arab-Israeli dispute based on the principle of land for peace.
The Arab ministers also vowed to break economic sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, Reuters reported.
The ministers said in a communique that permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, Israel and Arab parties would be invited to attend the peace conference. It would be aimed at "reaching a just and comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict on all tracks according to the relevant international resolutions and the principle of land for peace", the communique, adopted unanimously, said.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas did not say whether his movement would attend such a peace conference alongside Israel. "Will this conference be held or not? What's the agenda of the conference? We don't know. I leave this matter to the future," he told reporters.
The ministers said that they would refuse to abide by sanctions imposed by the United States and Europe after Hamas ousted Fatah party in elections in January. "There will be no compliance with any restriction imposed ... The Arab banks have to transfer money (to the Palestinians)," Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa told a news conference.
