No "57-state solution" to Mideast conflict, says Arab League chief

May 23, 2009, 15:13 GMT

Damascus - A '57-state solution' to the Arab-Israeli conflict that would see Muslim-majority countries offer Israel full diplomatic recognition in exchange for peace 'is not on the table,' the head of the Arab League said on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters at the end of a meeting of foreign ministers from the 57 members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting in Damascus on Saturday, Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said media reports suggesting the OIC might offer Israel a joint peace deal were inaccurate.

'This is not on the table. All talk of this is inaccurate,' Mussa said.

Jordan's King Abdullah II, in a May 11 interview with the Times of London, had spoken of a '57-state solution.'

'We are offering a third of the world to meet (the Israelis) with open arms,' King Abdullah said two weeks ago. 'The future is not the Jordan river or the Golan Heights or Sinai, the future is Morocco in the Atlantic to Indonesia in the Pacific.'

'The Jordanian proposal is in accordance with the Arab proposal,' Mussa said Saturday. 'The conflict would be finished with Israel's withdrawal from all occupied territories and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.'

Mussa said that if Arabs and Israelis struck such a deal, other predominantly Muslim countries would likely follow suit.

'But we do not see any progress in the current circumstances,' he added. 'Though there is a lot of clarity in the US position, which can benefit everyone involved.'