Abstract

King Abdullah insists that "There is no change to the Arab Peace Initiative, and there is no need to amend it. Any talk about amending it, is baseless". Abbas, regularly described as the president of the Palestinian Authority, firmly agrees. The Arab Peace Initiative reiterates the long-standing international consensus that Israel must withdraw to the international border, perhaps with "minor and mutual adjustments," to adopt official US terminology before it departed sharply from world opinion in 1971, endorsing Israel 's rejection of peace with Egypt in favor of settlement expansion. Furthermore, the consensus calls for a Palestinian state to be established in Gaza and the West Bank after Israel 's withdrawal. The Arab Initiative adds that the Arab states should then normalize relations with Israel.