Arab Peace Initiative

Arab Peace Initiative, historic proposal by Abdullah of Saudi Arabia for Arab states to recognize Israel and normalize relations with the country in exchange for an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Endorsed by all 22 Arab League states during the organization’s 2002 annual summit, the proposal sought to jump-start the Oslo Accords peace process, which had begun to sputter. But the offer coincided with the height of the second intifada (Palestinian uprising; 2000–05) and failed to renew the stalled negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The proposal followed the general framework of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although its stance on outstanding issues such as borders reflected the negotiating position of the PA. It called for a Palestinian state whose borders followed those of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip prior to the Six-Day War of 1967, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) occupied the territories; East Jerusalem as the Palestinian state’s capital; and the repatriation of Palestinian refugees. These matters had not yet been negotiated, however, and the Israeli position favored land swaps to accommodate existing Israeli settlements, an undivided Jerusalem, and a limited return of Palestinian refugees. The initiative nonetheless enjoyed wide support, including from U.S. Pres. George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. When the Arab League renewed its endorsement of the initiative in 2013, it adopted language that signaled the Arab states’ willingness to accept concessions that the PA had made in negotiations.

By the 2020s the Arab states appeared to have shifted away from the conditions of the Arab Peace Initiative. Serious negotiations for a two-state solution had not taken place since 2008, and some Arab countries, especially in the Persian Gulf region, saw increasing opportunity in establishing ties with Israel. In 2020 the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco (followed by Sudan in 2021) agreed in the Abraham Accords to normalize relations with Israel, a move that sidestepped the Arab Peace Initiative’s call for Palestinian self-determination. An Israeli-Saudi normalization deal was nearly achieved in 2023, but the negotiations were disrupted by the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas War in October, following the brutal attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7. The war’s devastation in the Gaza Strip prompted Saudi Arabia to reaffirm the importance of an independent Palestinian state for a stable Middle East, complicating the finalization of a deal. In February 2025, amid pressure on neighboring countries from U.S. Pres. Donald Trump to permanently resettle Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates scrambled to offer an alternative plan for the future of the Gaza Strip that would prevent the displacement of Palestinians there. The plan was set to be presented to the Arab League in early March, marking the first major initiative from the Arab League since the Arab Peace Initiative.

Below is the English-language text of the Arab Peace Initiative:

Text of the Arab Peace Initiative

The Council of the League of Arab States at the Summit Level, at its 14th Ordinary Session,

Reaffirming the resolution taken in June 1996 at the Cairo Extra-Ordinary Arab Summit that a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East is the strategic option of the Arab Countries, to be achieved in accordance with International Legality, and which would require a comparable commitment on the part of the Israeli Government.

Having listened to the statement made by His Royal Highness Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in which his Highness presented his Initiative, calling for full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967, in implementation of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, reaffirmed by the Madrid Conference of 1991 and the land for peace principle, and Israel’s acceptance of an independent Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in return for the establishment of normal relations in the context of a comprehensive peace with Israel.

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Emanating from the conviction of the Arab countries that a military solution to the conflict will not achieve peace or provide security for the parties, the council:

1. Requests Israel to reconsider its policies and declare that a just peace is its strategic option as well.
2. Further calls upon Israel to affirm:

   1. Full Israeli withdrawal from all the territories occupied since 1967, including the Syrian Golan Heights to the lines of June 4, 1967 as well as the remaining occupied Lebanese territories in the south of Lebanon.
   2. Achievement of a just solution to the Palestinian Refugee problem to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194.
   3. The acceptance of the establishment of a Sovereign Independent Palestinian State on the Palestinian territories occupied since the 4th of June 1967 in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
3. Consequently, the Arab Countries affirm the following:

   1. Consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel, and provide security for all the states of the region.
   2. Establish normal relations with Israel in the context of this comprehensive peace.
4. Assures the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries.
5. Calls upon the Government of Israel and all Israelis to accept this initiative in order to safeguard the prospects for peace and stop the further shedding of blood, enabling the Arab Countries and Israel to live in peace and good neighborliness and provide future generations with security, stability, and prosperity.
6. Invites the International Community and all countries and Organizations to support this initiative.
7. Requests the Chairman of the Summit to form a special committee composed of some of its concerned member states and the Secretary General of the League of Arab States to pursue the necessary contacts to gain support for this initiative at all levels, particularly from the United Nations, the Security Council, the United States of America, the Russian Federation, the Muslim States and the European Union.