U.S. reactions Initially, the initiative was met with enthusiastic support from the
Bush administration. According to Bush's spokesperson
Ari Fleischer "the president praised the crown prince's ideas regarding the full Arab-Israeli normalization once a comprehensive peace agreement has been reached." Though the president later stressed that it could only be implemented with the cessation of terrorist attacks against Israel. His successor,
Barack Obama expressed praise in the spirit, but not support of its details, for the Initiative in the first days of his presidency. In an interview with
Al-Arabiya network on January 27, 2009, he said:
George Mitchell, then the United States special envoy to the Middle East, announced in March 2009 that President
Barack Obama's administration intends to "incorporate" the initiative into its Middle East policy.
Israeli reactions Israeli officials have made many different responses ranging from positive, to neutral, to negative. When the plan came out in 2002, the Israeli government rejected the initiative, An
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said that "Israel has no interest in stagnation and unfortunately, if the Arab initiative is take it or leave it, that will be a recipe for stagnation". In terms of public opinion, the
Oxford Research Group has reported that attitudes range "between those who have never heard of it, and those who don't believe a word of it." A November–December 2008 poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem found that only 36% of Israelis support the plan.
Benjamin Netanyahu believes "the general idea — to try and reach understandings with leading Arab countries — is a good idea," noting also that "the situation in the Middle East has changed since it was first proposed." In 2007
Benjamin Netanyahu who in 2009 would for the second time become Prime Minister of Israel rejected the Initiative. He told visiting Arab foreign ministers that "The withdrawal from Gaza two years ago proved that any Israeli withdrawal – particularly a unilateral one – does not advance peace, but rather establishes a terror base for radical Islam." However, he objected to the Initiative's calls for Israel to withdraw from the
Golan Heights and to repatriate Palestinian refugees.
Shimon Peres On March 28, 2002, then
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said: On November 12, 2008, Peres reiterated his support for the initiative at the UN General Assembly Meeting on Inter-Faith Dialogue: At the 2009
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference, President Shimon Peres expressed satisfaction at the "u-turn" in the attitudes of Arab states toward peace with Israel as reflected in the Saudi initiative, though he did qualify his comments by saying: "Israel wasn't a partner to the wording of this initiative. Therefore it doesn't have to agree to every word." "Nevertheless, Israel respects the profound change, and hopes it will be translated into action," Peres added. "I trust that the leadership of President Obama will pave the way to both to a regional agreement and meaningful bilateral negotiations." "Israel stands with her arms outstretched, and her hands held open to peace with all nations, with all Arab states, with all Arab people." the president declared. "To those still holding a clenched fist I have just one word to say: Enough. Enough war. Enough destruction. Enough hatred. Now is the time for change," said Peres. "Israel is prepared today to bring peace closer. Today."
Other Israeli statements Israeli Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
Avigdor Lieberman said on April 21, 2009, that the plan is "a dangerous proposal, a recipe for the destruction of Israel." Likud party spokesperson
Zalman Shoval said in March 2007 that Israel would never accept the return of refugees who had lived in pre-1967 Israeli territory, saying "If 300,000–400,000, or maybe a million, Palestinians would invade the country, that would be the end of the state of Israel as a Jewish state.... That's not why we created the state." In general, however, Olmert has described the initiative as a "revolutionary change". The day before, the Israeli consul general in New York City had said:
Yossi Alpher, a political consultant and writer and former senior advisor to Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak said in November 2008 that: "The initiative is unique in terms of the comprehensive “payoff” it offers Israel and, with regard to refugees, both the absence of any direct mention of the right of return and the recognition that Israel's agreement to a solution must be solicited. It represents huge progress from the days in 1967".
Kadima Chairperson
Tzipi Livni has distanced herself from it given her uncompromising opposition to the
return of the
Palestinian refugees.
Palestinian reactions Polls of the Palestinian people have generated large support for the plan. Support decreased slightly after the
Gaza War. However, the majority is still in favor.
Palestinian Authority said the initiative could create "a sea of peace that begins in
Nouakchott and ends in
Indonesia". The Arab Peace Plan has received the full support of
Mahmoud Abbas and the
Palestinian Authority, which even took the unprecedented step of placing advertisements in Israeli newspapers on November 20, 2008, to promote it. A November–December poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace in Jerusalem found that only 25% of Israelis saw the ads and only 14% actually read them.
Peace Now reciprocated the PLO's gesture by running its own ads in the Palestinian press. In August and September 2020, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas criticised the
Israel–United Arab Emirates normalization agreement and
another with Bahrain, describing them as "a betrayal" of the Palestinian cause, and a weaken of the Arab Peace Initiative.
Hamas From its inception in 2002, the Initiative deeply divided the organization. others didn't accept the Initiative, which alienated Jordan and Egypt. The reporters who interviewed Shanab asked if he was speaking for the entire Hamas organization and Shanab answered "Yes." They then tried to contact other Hamas leaders to confirm Shanab's remarks, but they could either not be reached or were unwilling to comment on the matter. Hamas' foreign minister Mahmoud al-Zahar said in June 2006 that the organization rejects the initiative. That month, Mahmoud al-Zahar declared unequivocally: "Hamas will never change its position regardless of the pressure's intensity" and "We will never recognize the Arab initiative." In January 2007, Hamas leader
Khaled Meshaal said in an interview that Hamas supports "the Arab position," presumably referring to the Arab Peace Initiative. After the revival of the initiative in March 2007, Hamas continued a policy of ambiguity with many officials giving mixed responses.
Haaretz sources in Palestine state that Hamas wanted to oppose the initiative outright but did not do so because it did not want to break with the
Saudi Arabian government. However, in an interview with
BBC's
Jeremy Bowen in April 2008, Meshaal threw his support behind the initiative.
The Khaleej Times editorialized in December 2008 that "The Arab peace plan remains the best and most pragmatic solution to Palestine-Israel conflict.... Even though Hamas and Islamic Jihad are not prepared to accept anything short of the entire Palestine occupied in 1940s, if the plan is accepted by Israel and US, the Arabs could possibly persuade Islamists to embrace it too." In May 2017, Hamas updated its covenant, expressing a willingness to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. However, it maintained its stance on several key issues: it did not abandon its commitment to resistance and the military option against Israel to achieve a Palestinian state, insisted on the right of return for the 1948 Palestinian refugees and the 1967 displaced to all Palestinian territories, and continued to view jihad, as a legitimate and strategic option for defending and reclaiming Palestinian rights.
Arab reactions Many Arab policy makers, chiefs of state, and commentators have written in support of the initiative since 2002.
Turki al-Faisal, Saudi minister of foreign affairs, wrote in
The Washington Post in support shortly after
Barack Obama's
2008 election victory.
al-Faisal stated that "there are reasons to be optimistic" and"best medicine yet formulated for the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is the Arab peace initiative". He also called the plan "a high price for peace" from the Arab perspective.
Marwan Muasher, formerly Jordanian foreign minister and the first Jordanian ambassador to Israel, wrote in
Haaretz on August 19, 2008, that: In addition, the six members of the
Gulf Cooperation Council expressed their support of the Initiative on May 20 during a consultative meeting that was held in
Dammam. Support for the Arab Peace Plan was also expressed by
Andre Azoulay, a Jewish adviser to
Moroccan King
Mohammed VI. On October 28, 2008, Mr Azoulay said at a conference in
Tel Aviv that: "I am a Jew with a commitment," said Andre Azoulay. "I'm an Arab Jew. I advise the king of Morocco... The Arab mainstream sees Israel as the party responsible for preventing peace, not the Arabs.... [The Peace Plan] is something that the Israelis hoped for ten years ago. But who knows about it in Israel today? Who will take the initiative and explain it? The momentum will not last forever. This is a dangerous situation. Tomorrow something could happen in the West Bank and blow the whole deal, and we'll have to wait again." Mohammad Raad, head of
Hezbollah's bloc in the
Lebanese parliament, condemned the peace plan, saying that "[t]his option cannot be promoted in the Arab and Islamic worlds anymore".
Hezbollah leader
Sheikh Naim Qassem also made similar remarks. In June 2009,
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak repeated his support for the peace plan. He also stated that it does not mean recognizing Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, since that would imply giving up the right of return.
Lebanese President Michel Suleiman also made similar statements and he called on the international community to push Israel towards accepting the peace plan. Both leaders had responded to an
address by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
International reactions Outside of the Middle East, the Arab Peace Initiative has received praise of chiefs of state throughout the world, international organisations, and a large number of political commentators specializing in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, has led this chorus of support on a number of occasions. In his address to the Summit of the
League of Arab States on March 28, 2007, he said: The Arab Peace Initiative was endorsed by the
Quartet on the Middle East on April 30, 2003, and recognized its importance in the
Road Map. A joint statement issued by the Quartet on May 30, 2007, provides that: The
prime minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown also voiced support for the Initiative during a press conference that was held on December 15, 2008, at the London Business Forum on Trade and Investment with Palestine,
Downing Street. The prime minister said: The UK
foreign minister David Miliband reiterated that support on November 24, 2008. In a speech delivered on that day in Abu Dhabi at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, he said that: All of the 57 states of the
Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (formerly the Organisation of the Islamic Conference) have expressed their support for the Arab Peace Initiative. The members of the Organisation re-affirm their support at almost each of their session (including, for example, the 33rd Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers Session of Harmony of Rights, Freedoms and Justice, which took place on June 19–21, 2006 in Baku, Azerbaijan). AIPAC opposed the initiative, and referred to it as an "ultimatum".
Support from Middle East analysts The Initiative has also obtained the support of a large number of leading commentators on Middle East issues. On April 9, 2007,
Noam Chomsky, offered the following thoughts shortly after the Beirut Declaration was readopted by the
League of Arab States: Shortly before the Beirut Declaration was to be readopted by the Arab League in 2007,
Thomas Friedman wrote in
The New York Times that: On November 21, 2008,
Brent Scowcroft and
Zbigniew Brzezinski wrote in an article in
The Washington Post that they also supported key parts of the Initiative, while adding conditions that until now have been rejected by the Arab states that sponsored it when they said:
Henry Siegman, former senior fellow and director of the
U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP) at the
Council on Foreign Relations and former executive director of the
American Jewish Congress, wrote in the
Financial Times on April 26, 2007, that:
Ian Black,
The Guardian's Middle East Editor, wrote on October 18, 2008, that:
Jonathan Freedland, also from
The Guardian, wrote on December 17, 2008, that: On the day that the Arab Peace Initiative was to be readopted by the Arab League in 2007,
Donald Macintyre wrote in
The Independent that: The
Oxford Research Group organised a meeting in October 2008 that was attended by senior policy makers and analysts in order to discuss the Arab Peace Initiative. A report was published in November 2008 in order to summarize the meeting's findings, which included the following: On March 26, 2012, on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the proposal,
Haaretzs Akiva Eldar wrote that Israel's failure to respond adequately to the Arab proposal was part of the country's "worst missed opportunity".
Right of return The Arab Peace Initiative, which was ratified at the summit of Arab leaders in Beirut in March 2002, presented principles for an agreement in the Israeli-Arab conflict, and included reference to the Palestinian refugee problem. The relevant passage in its decisions on this matter determined: "To accept to find an agreed, just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees in
conformity with Resolution 194," and "the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries."
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs say that, by rejecting "patriation" (tawtin in Arabic) or the resettlement of the refugees in any Arab state, the Arab Peace Initiative essentially leaves each refugee with no choice but to go to Israel itself, According to this same institute, the Arab states used even more explicit language on this point in a Final Statement that accompanied their initiative, and the Initiative rejected any solution that involves "resettling of the Palestinians outside of their homes." == Current status ==