RAMALLAH, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian presidency on Wednesday said real peace in the Middle East can only be made through recognizing the Palestinian people's legitimate rights, slamming the Israeli leadership's reported remarks on coupling Israel-Arab rapprochement with anti-Iran agenda.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman of the Palestinian presidency, said in a press statement that "making real peace can only be achieved through recognizing the Palestinian people's legitimate rights that are recognized by the international community."
His remarks came after The Jerusalem Post, an Israeli newspaper, reported on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is linking peace with Saudi Arabia to the goal of stopping Iranian aggression, which will open economic possibilities for Israel and the region.
According to the report, Netanyahu's remarks came a day earlier during his address at the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish organizations in Jerusalem, during which he said "the Arab world recognizes the primacy of the Iranian threat."
In an apparent response to the remarks, Abu Rudeineh said "ignoring the Palestinians' right and making individual agreements will not bring security and stability to anyone," adding that "this unveils the truth of Israel's intentions to evade entitlements of peace based on international legitimacy."
He added that "the current events have proven that resolving the Palestinian cause under UN resolutions and international law and giving the Palestinians their right to freedom and independence is the real key to the region's crises."
Israel announced earlier in February that it had agreed to ink a deal with Sudan to normalize ties later in 2023.
The move makes Sudan the fourth Arab nation to sign a normalization agreement with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords, a series of U.S.-brokered normalization deals Israel reached with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco to establish official relations in 2020.
The Palestinians said that any normalization with Israel is linked to the decisions of the Arab Peace Initiative issued in 2002, which called for its complete withdrawal from all Arab territories occupied since 1967.
They want to resolve the conflict with Israel by implementing the UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, ending the Israeli occupation, which began in 1967, and establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. ■
