Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has demanded that Israel instantly cease its army aggression in Gaza and Lebanon on the opening of a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders in Riyadh.
In an tackle earlier than the joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Monday, the crown prince, often known as MBS, condemned the “bloodbath dedicated in opposition to Palestinian and Lebanese individuals”.
He urged Israel “to chorus from any additional act of aggression” and referred to as on nations all over the world to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary-general of the Arab League, additionally joined MBS in condemning Israel’s army operation in Gaza and Lebanon, saying that “phrases can’t categorical the plight of the Palestinian individuals”.
“The actions taken by Israel in opposition to the Palestinian individuals are undermining efforts to realize lasting peace. It’s only with justice that we will set up lasting peace,” Aboul Gheit mentioned.
“The world can’t flip a blind eye” to Israeli violence, he pressured.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati informed the summit that his nation was struggling an “unprecedented” disaster that threatens its existence, as Israel wages battle on Hezbollah.
“Lebanon goes by means of an unprecedented historic and existential disaster that threatens its current and future,” he mentioned.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian didn’t attend the assembly as a consequence of urgent “government issues”.
However Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref condemned Israel’s assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders as “organised terrorism” in remarks to the summit.
“The operations which might be conceptualised with the misleading phrasing of ‘focused killing’, and through which Palestinian elites and leaders of different nations within the area are killed one after the other or en masse, are nothing however lawlessness and organised terrorism,” he mentioned.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu additionally attended the summit.
Within the closing assertion on Monday, the assembled leaders mentioned they “condemn within the strongest phrases” the Israeli military’s actions “within the context of the crime of genocide … particularly within the northern Gaza Strip throughout the previous weeks”, citing torture, executions, disappearances and “ethnic cleaning”.
The assertion additionally condemned makes an attempt to cement Israel’s grip on Israeli-occupied east Jerusalem, calling it the “everlasting capital” of the Palestinian territories, and referred to as for the unification of the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem below a Palestinian state.
“We reaffirm the total sovereignty of the State of Palestine over occupied East [Jerusalem], the everlasting capital of Palestine, and reject any Israeli choices or measures geared toward Judaising it and consolidating its colonial occupation of the town,” the summit’s closing assertion mentioned.
The summit comes a yr after the same gathering in Riyadh of the Cairo-based Arab League and the Jeddah-based OIC, throughout which leaders condemned Israeli actions in Gaza as “barbaric”.
Nevertheless, leaders had been unable to agree on motion in opposition to Israel regardless of calls to sever financial and diplomatic ties with the nation or disrupt its oil provides.
The 57-member OIC and 22-member Arab League embody nations that recognise Israel and people firmly against its regional integration.
Donald Trump’s election to the US presidency final week – and his upcoming, second time period within the White Home – are prone to be on leaders’ minds in Riyadh, mentioned Anna Jacobs, senior Gulf analyst for the Worldwide Disaster Group assume tank.
“This summit may be very a lot a possibility for regional leaders to sign to the incoming Trump administration what they need by way of US engagement,” she informed the AFP information company.
“The message will seemingly be one in every of dialogue, de-escalation and calling out Israeli army campaigns within the area.”
Israel’s battle on Gaza started after an unprecedented Hamas assault on Israel in October 2023 that claimed greater than 1,100 lives. Since then, Israel has killed greater than 43,600 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians.
Israel has additionally killed greater than 3,100 individuals in Lebanon since October 7 final yr because it fights Iran-backed Hezbollah.
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