Arab leaders meeting in Damascus re-endorsed the 2002 Arab initiative for peace with Israel. The plan offers Israel peace and normal relations with all Arab countries in return for withdrawal from all territory captured in the 1967 war.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa: “We reiterate that the continuation by the Arab side to present the Arab peace initiative is tied to Israel executing its commitments in the framework of international resolutions to achieve peace in the region.”

Successive Israeli governments have either ignored or rejected the offer, which would require Israel to dismantle settlements in the occupied West Bank. Meanwhile, Israel has agreed to remove about nine percent of its roadblocks in the West Bank. The announcement came during a visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Israel currently maintains more than 580 checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank, including thirty that have gone up since the Annapolis peace talks.