Arab Summit Calls for UN Forces to Protect Palestinians Ahead of Implementation of Two-State Solution

A handout photo made available by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) shows Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa (C) posing for family photo with Arab leaders and participants at the 33rd Arab League Summit, in Manama, Bahrain, 16 May 2024. (EPA/BNA)
A handout photo made available by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) shows Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa (C) posing for family photo with Arab leaders and participants at the 33rd Arab League Summit, in Manama, Bahrain, 16 May 2024. (EPA/BNA)
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Arab Summit Calls for UN Forces to Protect Palestinians Ahead of Implementation of Two-State Solution

A handout photo made available by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) shows Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa (C) posing for family photo with Arab leaders and participants at the 33rd Arab League Summit, in Manama, Bahrain, 16 May 2024. (EPA/BNA)
A handout photo made available by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) shows Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa (C) posing for family photo with Arab leaders and participants at the 33rd Arab League Summit, in Manama, Bahrain, 16 May 2024. (EPA/BNA)

Arab leaders called on Thursday for the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers in the Palestinian territories who can protect civilians ahead of the implementation of the two-state solution.

The leaders met at the 33rd ordinary session of the Arab League Council in Manama, under the presidency of Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, to address the war on Gaza.

In a closing statement, the leaders underscored the importance of the two-state solution and the need for setting a timeframe for the political process and negotiations. They called for taking clear measures to that end.

They also called for holding a UN-sponsored international conference focusing on resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on the two-state solution and that would end the Israeli occupation of all Arab lands and establish an independent Palestinian state according to international resolutions.

The sovereign and viable Palestinian state would live in security and peace side-by-side with Israel, it added.

The leaders tasked the foreign ministers of Arab countries to “act immediately to communicate with the counterparts around the world to urge them to swiftly recognize the State of Palestine.”

Consultations will be held with the FMs to discuss the details of their efforts.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, reiterated the Kingdom’s support for the establishment of an internationally recognized Palestinian state, demanding that the international community support ceasefire efforts in Gaza.

The Kingdom is committed to resolving conflicts through peaceful means, he stressed before the summit.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi underscored Cairo’s firm stance in rejecting the forced displacement of the Palestinian people, adding that “those who believe that security and military solutions can achieve interests or achieve security are delusional.”

He added that the region was at a crossroads “that demands that all concerned parties choose between either peace, stability and hope, or chaos and destruction that the ongoing military escalation is leading us to.”

Moreover, he noted that “history will look on long at the war in Gaza to record a major tragedy that has been marked by killing, reprisals and a siege on an entire people, their starvation and terrorization.”

He also criticized the international community’s “regrettable inability” to take any action to address the crisis.



Saudi Arabia Emphasizes Peaceful Cooperation to Achieve Global Security

Ambassador Abdul Mohsen bin Khothaila speaks during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. (Photo: Saudi Mission in Geneva)
Ambassador Abdul Mohsen bin Khothaila speaks during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. (Photo: Saudi Mission in Geneva)
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Saudi Arabia Emphasizes Peaceful Cooperation to Achieve Global Security

Ambassador Abdul Mohsen bin Khothaila speaks during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. (Photo: Saudi Mission in Geneva)
Ambassador Abdul Mohsen bin Khothaila speaks during the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. (Photo: Saudi Mission in Geneva)

Saudi Arabia emphasized peaceful international cooperation as a means to achieve global prosperity, stability and security, stressing the importance of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the necessity of its full implementation.

Ambassador Abdul Mohsen bin Khothaila, the Permanent Saudi Representative to the United Nations and international organizations in Geneva, participated in the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference.

The ambassador called for more effective international efforts to achieve the goals and universality of the NPT, urging non-party states to join the treaty and subject all their nuclear facilities to the comprehensive safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Affirming the right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology under Article 4 of the Treaty, he underlined the importance of adhering to the highest standards of transparency and reliability, calling on all parties to cooperate to promote peaceful use for the benefit of global development and well-being.

He stated that the responsibility for making the Middle East a nuclear-weapon-free zone lies with the international community, especially the sponsors of the 1995 resolution on the Middle East.

Bin Khothaila condemned the recent statements and threats made by a member of the Israeli government regarding the use of nuclear weapons against the Palestinians, describing his words as violations of international law and a threat to global peace and security.

He further called for intensifying cooperation between the parties to the NPT to attain positive results at the next “review conference” in 2026, with the aim of achieving a safe world free of nuclear weapons.