Riyad al-Maliki
Riyad al-MalikiReuters

Riyadh Al-Maliki, the Palestinian Authority’s “foreign minister”, on Wednesday called on Arab states to implement the resolutions of the Arab League and take the necessary measures to act against any state that recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or relocates its embassy to Jerusalem.

At a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers, Al-Maliki said that the Palestinian Arabs would not give on up this position.

"We will never abandon our land. We will defend our rights until we realize them, but the steadfastness of the Palestinian people will not be achieved without the support of our Arab brothers," he said.

Al-Maliki demanded that the Arab League respond to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's claims that peace with “Palestine” is not a condition for peace with the Arabs.

He mentioned the decisions of the Arab summit in Beirut in 2002 that conditioned recognition of Israel on reaching a peace agreement on the basis of full withdrawal and the realization of the “right of return”.

The comments come amid reports of rapprochement between Israel and some Arab states. Netanyahu visited Oman recently, as did Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz who pitched plans to link the Mediterranean to the Gulf via the Jewish state.

One of the countries to which Israel has reportedly been getting close is Saudi Arabia, but the kingdom has repeatedly denied reports of rapprochement with Israel.

Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, recently said that “the Kingdom made clear its position on the Palestinian issue which is based on the Arab Peace Initiative.”

The Arab Peace Initiative, unveiled by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and re-endorsed at the 2007 Arab League summit, stipulates that 22 Arab countries will normalize ties with Israel in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria.

Israel to date has rejected the 2002 Saudi proposal due to the fact that it calls for Israel to accept the so-called "right of return" for millions of descendants of Arabs who fled pre-state Israel, effectively bringing an end to the Jewish state.