Mideast peace requires two-state solution: Arab League chief

Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit today said resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would require a two-state solution, a day after Washington signalled it would drop that demand.

Abul Gheit affirmed that the conflict "requires a comprehensive and just peace based on a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian state," a statement said after he met UN chief Antonio Guterres in Cairo.

His comments came a day after US President Donald Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and suggested a two-state solution was not necessary.

Guterres had also called for a two-state solution on Wednesday in a speech in Cairo, saying there was "no Plan B".
 

The Arab League statement said he and Abul Gheit "agreed that the two-state solution remains the real way to achieving" peace.

For the better part of half a century, successive US governments -- both Republican and Democrat -- have backed a two-state solution.

Palestinian Liberation Organisation secretary-general Saeb Erekat said the PLO remained committed to two states and would oppose any system that discriminated against Palestinians.