Associated Press

September 14, 1994

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Arab League Secretary-General Esmat Abdel-Meguid praised the Israel-Jordan peace accord Wednesday and urged Israel to recognize Palestinian rights in Jerusalem if it wants true peace.

Abdel-Meguid made the statements to the opening of a meeting of the league members' foreign ministers.

The session began with the adoption of resolutions supporting the Palestinian struggle and declaring Jerusalem as capital of a would-be Palestinian state.

Abdel-Meguid called the pact ending the state of war between Israel and Jordan "an important development" in resolving the Jewish state's conflict with the Arabs. The agreement was signed July 25 in Washington.

But Abdel-Meguid added that the Arab-Israel conflict would not end until Israel withdraws from all Arab land.

"Israel must realize that peace cannot be complete unless ... the Palestinian people regain their lawful rights of establishing a state with holy Jerusalem as its capital," he said.

Israel annexed the eastern Arab part of Jerusalem after capturing it in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel insists east Jerusalem must remain part of its territory, but the PLO wants it as capital of a Palestinian state.

On Tuesday, PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres signed an agreement separating the divisive issue of Jerusalem from the question of aid to the Palestinians' newly autonomous areas in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

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