Assembly/AU/Decl.1(IX) DECLARATION ON THE ARAB PEACE INITIATIVE We, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union meeting in our Ninth Ordinary Session, in Accra, Ghana, from 1 to 3 July 2007, Having examined the grave situation resulting from the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Arab lands, 1. SUPPORT the Arab Peace Initiative (API) in all its aspects, as adopted by the Arab Summit in its 14th Session in Beirut, Lebanon, on 28 March 2002, to resolve the Palestinian issue and the Arab-Israeli conflict; 2. DECIDE to deploy all efforts and means to promote the API, explain its dimensions and lobby international support for its implementation; 3. SUPPORT the Decision of the Arab Summit concerning the implementation of the API taken at its 19th Session, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on 29 March 2007; 4. AFFIRM that a comprehensive and just peace in the region can only be achieved by complete Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian and Arab lands occupied since June 1967; by establishment of an independent sovereign Palestinian State with Al-Quds (East Jerusalem) as its capital and through a just solution to the problem of the Palestinian refugees in accordance with the UN-General Assembly Resolution 194 of 1948; 5. CALL FOR the organization of an International Conference for all concerned international and regional parties, to be held under the auspices of the United Nations and the Quartet, to launch the process of direct, serious and meaningful negotiations in accordance with the agreed instruments. This peace process should be within a well-defined time framework; 6. CALL UPON the Chairperson of the Commission to intensify his contacts and coordinate with the Secretary General of the League of Arab States to deploy concerted efforts to promote the API and to lobby international support for its implementation. Accra, Ghana, 3 July 2007