The 162nd Ministerial Meeting of the Arab League Council set aside on Tuesday regional issues to focus solely on the war on Gaza.
The foreign ministers of the Arab League met in Cairo to offer support to Palestine.
Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit told a press conference that issues related to Somalia and the Renaissance dam have not been forgotten, but the participants opted to focus on the conflict in the Palestinian territories.
Other regional issues will be tackled on March 21, “but priority today will be given to Palestine”, he added.
The gatherers issued a resolution on the “developments in the Palestinian cause and Arab-Israeli conflict.”
The resolution places importance on the International Court of Justice’s landmark ruling on July 19 that declared as unlawful Israel's occupation of the Gaza strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. The resolution called on the international community to act on the ICJ ruling.
It condemned Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza, its forced displacement of Palestinians in violation of international law and its “declaration of war and violation of Arab national security.”
It warned that these actions will only undermine peace efforts and deepen the conflict in the region.
The resolution expressed its solidarity with Lebanon and its territorial integrity.
It tasked the Arab group in New York to kick off steps to suspend Israel’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly by submitting a request to that end.
Moreover, the resolution rejected Israel’s post-war on Gaza plans to seize control of the coastal enclave, calling for reopening the Rafah border crossing.
It also rejected Israel’s claims about the Philadelphi Corridor, saying it was attempting to hamper ceasefire efforts.
Speaking at the opening of the Arab League meeting, Aboul Gheit underlined the organization's support for Egypt’s stance that opposes the deployment of Israeli forces along the Corridor.
He noted that the past year has witnessed the international community’s “inability to stop the massacre in Gaza. Rather, some western powers have provided cover for the criminal activities and killings to continues.”
“The major powers of the world either don’t want to apply pressure on Israel or they are incapable of stopping this barbarism,” he remarked.
“A ceasefire is no longer an Arab demand, but a global one. It is a humanitarian and moral necessity and strategic goal to avert the spillover of the conflict into the region,” Aboul Gheit added.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan hailed Egypt’s role in organizing aid deliveries to Gaza. He also praised Cairo and Doha’s mediation efforts to reach a ceasefire.
He lauded Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's visit to Türkiye last week where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“We want to consolidate relations with Arab countries,” he stressed, while noting that Israel was exploiting the divisions.
“We must be more united, whether as Islamic states or members of the UN,” he added, while highlighting Ankara’s decision to suspend trade with Israel until the end of the conflict in Gaza.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad walked out of the conference hall as Fidan started his speech. He returned when it was over.
Speaking at the conference, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said: “Not only is there no pause in the war in Gaza. But what looms on the horizon is the extension of the conflict to the West Bank, where radical members of the Israeli government - Netanyahu’s government - try to make impossible to create a future Palestinian state.”
“A new front is being opened with a clear objective: to turn the West Bank into a new Gaza – in rising violence, delegitimizing the Palestinian Authority and stimulating provocations to react forcefully, and not shying away from saying to the face of the world that the only way to reach a peaceful settlement is to annex the West Bank and Gaza. Yes, without action, the West Bank will become a new Gaza. And Gaza will become a new West Bank, as settler’s movements are preparing new settlements,” he warned.
“Against this backdrop, it is clear that the prospect of a two-state solution – which we have been ritually repeating – is receding ever further whilst the international community deplores, feels, and condemns, but finds it hard to act,” he added.
On the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, Borrell said: “Some may say, ‘it is too old, it was 20 years ago and has not been implemented’.”
“In fact, many have forgotten about the Arab Peace Initiative. But I think that you could accelerate the slow - certainly too slow - changing perception of the Israel/Palestinian conflict by reaffirming the Arab Peace Initiative and by making it better known all over the world,” he continued.
On the Gaza conflict, he stated: “The situation is catastrophic both from a humanitarian and political point of view with no positive outlook in sight. Everything has been said about the situation: facts and figures are there.”
“The EU has given full support to the ongoing efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the United States. But the ceasefire agreement, prior to the implementation of the Biden plan, has still not been signed and does not seem likely to be signed in the near future,” he lamented.
