Saudi Arabia hosted an Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Conference joint summit where Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and other Arab leaders intensified criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza and Lebanon.
Exactly one-year after Saudi Arabia hosted an Arab-Islamic summit on Palestine, Riyadh called for another gathering as conditions in Gaza, Palestinian Territories and Lebanon continue to deteriorate.
Representatives and leaders from 57 countries associated with the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation issued a statement calling for a return to the pre-1967 borders, referencing UN resolutions and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which offered Israel normalized relations in exchange for a two-state solution.
Notably, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, stepped up criticism of Israeli actions in Gaza calling them genocide:
“This summit is held as an extension to the previous summit in light of the continued heinous Israeli aggressions against our brotherly Palestinian people and the extension of aggressions on the brotherly Republic of Lebanon. The kingdom reiterates its denunciation of the genocide perpetrated by Israel against the brotherly Palestinian people, which resulted in more than 150,000 martyrs, wounded and missing, the majority of whom are women and children.”
The Crown Prince also denounced Israel’s “desecration of the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque”, its “undermining of the critical role of the Palestinian Authority on all Palestinian territory”, as well as Israel’s banning of UNWRA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and its attacks on aid agencies in Gaza.
He also condemned the Israeli war on Lebanon and called for respect of the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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