U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's speech on Israeli-Palestinian peace on Wednesday has drawn enthusiastic statements of support from Sunni Arab states, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

That support stands out particularly in light of the fact that one of the principles for solving the conflict that Kerry presented was recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.

Kerry emphasized that one of the principles according to which any future negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians would need to be conducted was to "fulfill the vision of UN Resolution 181" (the Partition Plan), which specifies "two states for two peoples, one Jewish and one Arab, with mutual recognition and full equal rights for all their respective citizens."

The statements of support by the Arab states did not express any reservations about that clause, in effect lining up with the key demand raised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his Bar-Ilan speech in 2009.

Senior U.S. State Department officials involved in the writing of Kerry's speech told Haaretz that the reactions to the speech from the Arab world were very encouraging, as were those from a large number of European capitals, such as Germany and France, and the European Union.

"Minutes after Kerry concluded his speech, he began receiving calls from foreign ministers who wanted to congratulate him and express their support," said one official in Washington. "In particular, we were surprised by the response in the Arab world. There were Arab foreign ministers who called Kerry to say that they had waited decades for such a speech."

The Arab countries that expressed unwavering support for Kerry's speech belong to the Sunni axis, with which Netanyahu claims to have improved relations dramatically during his terms in office. The prime minister has said several times in the past year that a common interest on the Iranian issue between Israel and the Sunni states had created the basis for unprecedented dialogue, which is currently taking place secretly.

Netanyahu says he is interested in reaching separate peace agreements with the Arab states, irrespective of the Palestinian issue.

Kerry clarified in his speech that, from all his talks with the Arab states, he had concluded that not a single Arab state would normalize relations with Israel so long as the freeze with the Palestinians continues.

The Saudi royal house welcomed the principles proposed by Kerry in his speech and published an official statement saying, "The Kingdom sees that the recommendations are in agreement with the majority of legitimate international decisions and with the principles of the Arab Peace Initiative that was adopted in Beirut in 2002, and form a suitable ground to reach a final solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

Other states in the Persian Gulf, such as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar, also welcomed the speech. "The proposals are positive and represent the appropriate framework to reach a final solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," the UAE foreign ministry in Abu Dhabi said. The foreign ministries in Manama and Doha published statements with virtually identical wording, calling on both the Palestinians and Israel to respond positively to Kerry's words.

Positive reactions also came from Amman and Cairo. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh wrote on Twitter shortly after the speech that the entire world agrees with the vision spelled out by Kerry in his speech. In Cairo, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the principles presented by Kerry were in large part those of Egypt and the international community.

The U.S. State Department rejected Thursday's critical response to Kerry's speech from the office of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May. A British government spokesman said that while his country believed the settlements were illegal, it did not believe they were the only issue preventing Israeli-Palestinian peace.

"We are surprised by the U.K. Prime Minister’s office statement given that Secretary Kerry’s remarks covered the full range of threats to a two-state solution, including terrorism, violence, incitement and settlements," a State Department official said.

"We were also surprised because Kerry's remarks were in line with the U.K.’s own long-standing policy and its vote at the United Nations last week.”