Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee, US Lawmakers Discuss Situation in Gaza

The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA
The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA
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Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee, US Lawmakers Discuss Situation in Gaza

The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA
The committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency assistance to Gaza. SPA

Members of the Ministerial Committee, assigned by the Riyadh-hosted Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit, met Thursday with US lawmakers in Washington.

The meeting with members of the US House of Representatives and Senate was attended by Committee Chairman and Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, and the Turkish Ambassador to Washington Hasan Murat Mercan, who represented his country in the committee.

Meeting participants discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings, the military escalation, and efforts exerted to impose an immediate ceasefire, protect civilians, and ensure application of international law and the international humanitarian law.

Members of the committee called on the international community to take serious and immediate steps to ensure the delivery of emergency humanitarian, food, and medical assistance into Gaza.

Members underscored the need for active roles of parliaments and civil-society organizations in urging governments to end the Israeli occupation authorities’ violations against the Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, including in East Jerusalem.

Committee members also stressed the importance of reviving the political track to achieve comprehensive and lasting peace following the ceasefire based on a two-state solution and the relevant international resolutions that can lead to realizing the legitimate rights of the Palestinians in establishing their independent and sovereign state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.



EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, as the group claimed attacks deep into Israel.  

The Israeli military said Iran-backed Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into Israel during the day. Some of them were intercepted but others caused damage to houses in central Israel, according to AFP images.  

A day after the health ministry said Israeli strikes on Beirut and across Lebanon killed 84 people, state media reported two strikes on Sunday on the capital's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Israel's military said it had attacked "headquarters" of the group "hidden within civilian structures" in south Beirut.

War between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in late September, nearly a year after the group began launching strikes in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas following that group's October 7 attack on Israel.

The conflict has killed at least 3,754 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September.  

On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.  

Earlier this week, US special envoy Amos Hochstein said in Lebanon that a truce deal was "within our grasp" and then headed to Israel for talks with officials there.  

In the Lebanese capital, Borrell held talks with parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of ally Hezbollah.

"We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701," Borrell said.  

"Lebanon is on the brink of collapse", he warned.  

Under Resolution 1701, which ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war of 2006, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces present in the southern border area.  

The resolution also called for Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon, and reiterated earlier calls for "disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon."