Palestinian officials happy with outcome of meeting on two-state solution convened in US by Saudi Arabia

Palestinian officials are reportedly happy with the outcome of a meeting in the US that was convened by Saudi Arabia and expressed support for the two-state solution on Monday.

Riyadh's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, assembled the New York gathering while his country remains engaged in talks on normalising relations with Israel – a move that would be highly controversial.

Officials in the office of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, said they were happy with the event's results, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

The meeting, called the Peace Day Effort, was jointly held by Saudi Arabia and the EU, as well as Jordan, Egypt and the UAE – three Arab counties that have ties with Israel.

It was agreed to bring together teams to further ideas of establishing an independent state of Palestine which would coexist with Israel.

Officials in Abbas's office said the implementation of the teams' suggestions would be the true test.

The meeting that took place on Monday confirmed support for the Arab Peace Initiative, a 2002 proposal that would allow for ties between Israel and Arab states and the creation of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem.

The UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco normalised ties with Israel in 2020 in violation of this initiative, with Palestinians condemning their move.

Israel and Palestine were not invited given they are the two states concerned.

Neither were certain other nations in the region, such as Lebanon and Syria.

Haaretz cited Palestinian sources as saying the meeting taking place was significant in and of itself.

The event was scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, which brings together leaders from countries around the world.