A.L. says U.S. house speaker statement not helpful

The Secretary General of the Arab League has strongly attacked the statement made by US Congress Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich Newt Gingrich that it's time to build a US embassy in Jerusalem in 1999 to be the new headquarters for the US embassy to Israel instead of Tel Aviv.

In press statements he made in Cairo on Thursday, Abdul Meguid said such statements at the present time do not serve nor help achieving a genuine progress on the peace process, adding that it is a flagrant violation of the UN Security Council resolutions which consider East Jerusalem Arab territory, occupied since 1967.

Abdul Meguid added that Gingrich's statements are also in contradiction to the stances proclaimed by successive US governments since 1967 until now which consider Jerusalem as occupied Arab territory.

The AL secretary general added the statement also goes contrary to the accord signed in Washington in 1993 between the Palestinians and the Israelis which states that Jerusalem is under negotiated upon issues in the final stage of settlements and no measures should be taken to change such a position.

He asserted Arabs' categorical rejection of this U.S. position, which Abdul Meguid described as "harmful to the feelings of the Muslims and Christians in the region and the world, alike."