Arab League (AL) Secretary General Ahmed Abul Gheit has urged Japan to recognise a Palestinian state, stressing this would give Palestinians hope that their independent state could see the light of day someday.
Recognising an independent Palestinian state, Japan will be siding with the right side of history, Abul Gheit said.
This step would help the Palestinians see some light at the end of the tunnel, the AL chief said during an expanded meeting with Japanese journalists on Tuesday on the sidelines of the fifth Japan-Arab Economic Forum in Tokyo.
AL spokesman Gamal Roshdi said Abul Gheit gave an inaugural speech that focused on the common heritage between the Arabs and Japanese.
Arab intellectuals have, since the middle of the 19th century, been seeking inspiration from the Japanese renaissance, the spokesman quoted Abul Gheit as having said.
The AL chief said there is a chance to expand Arab-Japanese ties to include the transfer of technology and investments, Roshdi added.
He highlighted Abul Gheit’s remarks about trade exchange between the Arab world and Japan, which reached some 140 billion dollars since the beginning of this year.
Abul Gheit also spoke of the continued Israeli war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there, which left the Arab peoples outraged, created tension in the region and harmed global security and economy, the AL spokesman noted.
Roshdi quoted Abul Gheit as warning that the alternative to the two-state solution would be an apartheid regime or the “transfer” that Israel is seeking to impose.
