CAIRO, July 8 (Xinhua) -- The Cairo-based Arab League (AL) said on Wednesday that Israeli authorities have refused to allow its Secretary-General Nabil Fahmy to make a planned visit to the occupied Palestinian territories.
Fahmy had been scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Wednesday in a visit intended to demonstrate support for the Palestinian people, read an AL statement.
Fahmy had chosen the occupied Palestinian territories as the destination of his first official visit abroad since assuming office, underscoring the centrality and priority of the Palestinian issue in the Arab world, the statement said.
The statement stressed the need to hold Israel accountable for what it called continued violations against the Palestinian people, saying that defending the two-state solution requires effective and sustained action by countries supporting a just peace.
Fahmy assumed office on July 1 after receiving unanimous approval from Arab states. ■
