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Hamas Slams Qatar, Arab League On Peace Plan

Hamas, the PFLP and Islamic Jihad have angrily rejected Qatar's land-swap offer to Israel, Mohammed Suliman reports.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (4th R) and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani (4th L) speak to the media following a meeting with members of the Arab League at Blair House in Washington April 29, 2013. With them are (L-R) Saudi Ambassador to the United States Adel A-Jubeir, Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al Khalifa, Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki and Egypt
US Secretary of State John Kerry (4th R) and Qatar's Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani (4th L) speak to the media following a meeting with members of the Arab League at Blair House in Washington April 29, 2013. — REUTERS/Jason Reed

On April 29, top Arab League officials, following their meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington, announced their support of the principle of mutually agreed land swaps with Israel, rather than full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders, or Green Line. As per the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, the delegation, led by Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, reiterated its call for full normalization of ties with Israel in return for a withdrawal from lands it occupied during the 1967 War.

The league's action has caused a furor among Palestinian officials across the political spectrum, as Dalia Hatuqa reported in Al-Monitor on May 1, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to Islamic Jihad and Hamas. At the same time, Israel praised the move as an “important concession” on the part of Arab the states.

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