Moussa: Hamas should recognize Israel in framework of 2002 Arab League peace initiative

Former secretary-general of Arab League says plan that offered full recognition of Israel on condition it withdraws to pre-1967 lines could bring peace.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
Amr Moussa at World Economic Forum 390 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Amr Moussa at World Economic Forum 390
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Hamas should recognize Israel in the framework of the 2002 Arab League peace initiative, the league’s former secretary-general Amr Moussa said Wednesday.
“I believe that Hamas should declare its acceptance of the Arab initiative of 2002, which is the map of normalization and recognition of the state of Israel together with the establishing of the Palestinian state and the withdrawal of the occupied territory,” an AFP report quoted Moussa as saying.
The plan, which Saudi Arabia put forward at an Arab League summit in Beirut in 2002, offered full recognition of Israel, but only if it gave up all land seized in the 1967 war and agreed to a “just solution” for Palestinian refugees.
The Arab initiative bases its call for a solution to the refugee issue on UN General Assembly Resolution 194, which says that refugees should be able to choose whether to return to Israel or receive compensation.
Moussa, who has been mentioned as a potential senior official in a possible Egyptian administration under former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, also said that “it is normal for the Palestinians to reconcile,” referring to the recently signed agreement between the PLO and Hamas.
Reuters contributed to this report.