Arab-Islamic Leaders Demand Immediate End to Gaza War, Iran Prez Urges To “Cut off All Ties” With Israel

RIYADH SUMMIT:  The extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh urged the International Criminal Court to investigate “war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing” in the Palestinian territories, according to a final communique released on Saturday.

Dozens of leaders including Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was welcomed back into the Arab League this year, attended.

Originally, only the 22 members of the Arab League were expected to participate, but the meeting was later expanded to include the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a wider association of 57 mostly Muslim-majority states to which the Arab League countries belong.

Among those who attended, Iranian President’s trip to Saudi Arabia was the first by an Iranian head of state in more than a decade. Tehran and Riyadh formally ended years of hostility under a Chinese-brokered deal in March.

Saudi Arabia gathered Arab and Muslim leaders for an extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in #Riyadh , as the kingdom exerts its influence to press the United States and #Israel for an end to hostilities in #Gaza. #WATCH @IRIMFA_EN #مستشفى_الشفاء #الاتحاد_ابها #مستشفى_الشفاء… pic.twitter.com/7kcNfbpGG7

— Dr. Shahid Siddiqui (@shahidsiddiqui) November 11, 2023

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated Tehran’s position on rejecting the so-called two-state solution for an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, and has instead called for a democratic solution for a single state based on ballot boxes involving Palestinians of all faiths.

According to Iranian News Agency, Raisi made the remarks while speaking to reporters upon returning to Tehran after attending the joint emergency summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League held in Saudi Arabia amid the ongoing genocidal war by the occupation state against the Gaza Strip.

In his first official visit to Saudi Arabia, while addressing the leaders at the Arab-Islamic summit an Iranian president Raisi said, “the first and most urgent measure is to stop the killing of the people of Gaza.”

Sporting the Palestinian keffiyeh, he dismissed the idea of “humanitarian pauses” and called for a complete halt to Israeli attacks, including on hospitals, schools and refugee camps in the territory.

The second measure, Iran’s president stressed, is to “completely lift the siege” of the strip and reopen the Rafah border crossing with the help of the Egyptian government and other Arab countries.

The third measure, he added, should be the “immediate withdrawal” of Israeli troops from Gaza.

He also called on the Islamic countries to “cut off political and trade ties” with Israel and boycott its goods, echoing the call made by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei last week.

Raisi further urged the Islamic leaders present at the summit to declare the Israeli army a “terrorist organisation” and introduce Tel Aviv and Washington to a “fair court” for “prosecution for crimes.”

In the extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit, the leaders demanded that the UN Security Council adopt “a decisive and binding resolution” to halt Israel’s “aggression” in Gaza.

Türkiye President Erdogan called for an international peace conference to find a permanent solution to the conflict between Israel and Palestinians.

İslam İşbirliği Teşkilatı ve Arap Ligi Olağanüstü Ortak Zirvesi https://t.co/XFihJQ2MXj

— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) November 11, 2023

“What we need in Gaza is not pauses for a couple of hours, rather we need a permanent ceasefire,” Erdogan told the summit.

Qatar’s emir said his country, where several Hamas leaders are based, was seeking to mediate the release of Israeli hostages and hoped a humanitarian truce would be reached soon.

“For how long will the international community treat Israel as if it is above international laws?” he asked.

President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, said the “Indonesia Hospital in North Gaza continues to be the target of Israeli attacks and has run out of fuel.”

He said a way must be found to make Israel cease fire immediately, before adding: “The OIC must use all fronts to hold Israel accountable for the humanitarian atrocities it has committed.”

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told reporters there could be no talks about the future of Gaza except “talks about an immediate ceasefire”.

The summit also demanded an end to the siege of Gaza, access for humanitarian aid, and a halt to the sale of arms to Israel.

Hamas had urged the summit to take “a historic and decisive decision and move to stop the Zionist aggression immediately”.

Some Arab countries, led by Algeria, called for a complete cut in diplomatic ties with Israel, two delegates told, quoted by Reuters.

Other Arab countries that have established diplomatic relations with Israel pushed back, stressing the need to keep channels open with Netanyahu’s government, they said.

On the other side, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Arab leadership to “stand up against Hamas.”

“It only brought two things to the Gaza Strip – poverty and blood,” Netanyahu said at a press conference in Tel Aviv.

“Hamas is an integral part of the terror axis that Iran leads and that axis of terror and hatred endangers the whole world and the whole Arab world,” he said while addressing the media.

-With Agency Input

–Dr. M Shahid Siddiqui (PhD), Follow via X (Twitter) @shahidsiddiqui

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