Arab-Islamic summit says Mideast peace requires finish to Israeli occupation

Arab and Muslim leaders demanded on Monday that Israel withdraw from occupied Palestinian territories as a precondition for regional peace, whereas denouncing “shocking” Israeli crimes in war-ravaged Gaza.

A summit assembly within the Saudi capital gave the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s 57 nations an opportunity to talk with one voice on turmoil unfolding throughout the area, greater than a yr into the Israel-Hamas battle within the Gaza Strip.

It got here lower than every week after Donald Trump secured a second time period as president of the United States, Israel’s prime army backer.

The summit’s closing assertion mentioned that “a just and comprehensive peace in the region… cannot be achieved without ending the Israeli occupation of all occupied Arab territories to the line of June 4, 1967,” referring to the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem in addition to Gaza and the Golan Heights.

The assertion talked about UN resolutions which have referred to as on Israel to withdraw from these areas, and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, through which Arab nations provided Israel normalised ties in return for a two-state settlement with the Palestinians alongside the 1967 traces.

The worldwide group ought to “launch a plan with specific steps and timing under international sponsorship” to make a sovereign Palestinian state a actuality, the assertion mentioned.

The hard-right Israeli authorities of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays implacably against Palestinian statehood, some extent pushed residence earlier on Monday when Israel’s newly appointed international minister, Gideon Saar, dismissed the prospect as not “realistic”.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich later vowed to push for annexation of components of the West Bank in 2025.

Monday’s assertion from the summit in Riyadh reiterated regional leaders’ name for Palestinian territories — together with Gaza, which is separated from the West Bank by Israeli territory — to be grouped collectively in a future state.

The leaders additionally condemned “horrific and shocking crimes” by Israel’s military in Gaza, saying they occurred “in the context of the crime of genocide”.

The battle started with Hamas’s unprecedented assault on Israel on October 7 final yr, which resulted in 1,206 deaths, principally civilians, based on an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory marketing campaign has killed greater than 43,600 individuals in Gaza, most of them civilians, based on figures from the Hamas-run territory’s well being ministry that the United Nations considers dependable.

– Ceasefire name –

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which like Hamas is backed by Iran, started firing on Israel after the October 7 assault, in acknowledged assist of its Palestinian ally.

The common cross-border exchanges escalated in late September. Israel has intensified its air strikes and later despatched floor troops into southern Lebanon.

Addressing Monday’s summit, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman referred to as for instant ceasefires in each Gaza and Lebanon.

The world should “immediately halt the Israeli actions against our brothers in Palestine and Lebanon”, he mentioned, whereas condemning Israel’s marketing campaign in Gaza as “genocide”.

Prince Mohammed, the Gulf kingdom’s de facto ruler, additionally referred to as on Israel to not assault Iran, highlighting enhancing ties between Riyadh and its regional rival Tehran.

Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati, talking on the summit, warned that the nation was struggling an “existential” disaster and hit out at international locations meddling in its inner affairs — a thinly veiled swipe at Iran.

Countries ought to cease “supporting this or that group, but rather support Lebanon as a state”, Mikati mentioned.

The Saudi international ministry had introduced plans for the summit in late October, throughout a gathering additionally in Riyadh of a brand new “international alliance” to press for the institution of a Palestinian state.

– A ‘signal’ to Trump –

Trump’s election final week for a second time period within the White House was seemingly on leaders’ minds, mentioned Anna Jacobs, senior Gulf analyst for the International Crisis Group suppose tank.

“This summit is very much an opportunity for regional leaders to signal to the incoming Trump administration what they want in terms of US engagement,” she mentioned.

Iranian First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref mentioned in his remarks that “the world is waiting” for Trump “to immediately stop the war against the innocent people of Gaza and Lebanon”.

The remaining assertion included a name for a ban on the export and switch of weapons to Israel.

Despite criticism of the impression Israel’s army marketing campaign has had on Gaza civilians, outgoing US President Joe Biden has ensured that Washington stays Israel’s most essential army backer throughout greater than a yr of combating.

Arab and Muslim Leaders on Monday additionally condemned what they described as “continued attacks” by Israel in opposition to the United Nations, the place Washington is Israel’s staunch defender.

In his first time period, Trump defied worldwide consensus with a collection of strikes praised by the Israeli authorities however condemned by Palestinians.

He recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, transferring the US embassy there, and endorsed Israeli settlements within the occupied West Bank, that are unlawful beneath worldwide legislation.

Trump additionally oversaw the institution of Israeli diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.