(CNN) -- Arab nations meeting in Libya said they will support Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to refrain from direct peace talks unless Israel stops settlement construction.
"Restarting negotiations is conditional to the complete stop of settlement building on occupied Palestinian land, including East Jerusalem," according to a statement issued Friday from the Arab League Ministerial Committee on the Arab Peace Initiative.
"The Israeli government is responsible for halting the direct negotiations ... as a result of its continued unlawful settlement policy".
The Israeli prime minister's office had no immediate comment on the developments in Libya.
The statement supported U.S. peacemaking efforts and President Barack Obama's speech at the U.N. General Assembly last month regarding Palestinian rights.
It also called for a "U.S. recognition of an independent Palestinian state with pre-June 4, 1967, borders and east Jerusalem as its capital." The statement also said there won't be "real peace with Israel" unless the Jewish state withdraws from occupied Arab lands, including Syria's occupied Golan and Palestinian territory.
The statement said the international community should "take necessary steps" to end Israel's blockade of Gaza and it called for ending political differences among Palestinians.
The peace initiative committee comprises the foreign ministers of Jordan, Bahrain, Tunisia, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar.
Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Abbas, told CNN on Friday that all the efforts should be focused on settlement activities and that the United States should pressure Israel to halt all the settlement activities.
He also said Abbas will be delivering an important speech during the Arab League summit this weekend.
CNN
