By Latheef Farook
While Israel slaughter babies, children ,men ,women, aged and ethnic cleansing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for the 36th day, Saudi Arabia, depending on United States for its survival and with secret ties with Israel, hosted an extraordinary summit to discuss the on going genocide in Gaza.
The ultimate purpose of the Arab League- Organisation of Islamic Countries, OIC, summit in Riyadh was to stop the Israeli-US-European genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. OIC has 54 member countries and represent almost third of the world population.They were blessed with all human and other resources in the world. Yet they could not agree to take any concrete measure to save the Palestinian demonstrating their weakness.
Arab and Muslim leaders condemned Israeli ‘ “barbaric” actions in Gaza but declined to approve punitive economic and political measures against Israel over its war crimes against Hamas and Palestinian civilian population.
The outcome of the joint Arab League and the OIC summit highlighted regional divisions over how to respond to the war even as fears mount that it could draw in other countries.The summit took place against a backdrop of widespread anger in the Middle East and beyond.
The initial Saudi plan was to hold two separate summits-one for the Arab League and the other for OIC. However four “influential countries” in the Arab League had prevented the adoption of proposals that carry concrete measures against Israel. Instead they proposed more vague non-committal clauses as they do not want to antagonize their US master
For example some countries, including Algeria and Lebanon, proposed responding to the devastation in Gaza by threatening to disrupt oil supplies to Israel and its allies as well as severing the economic and diplomatic ties that some Arab League nations have with Israel.
The divisive clauses are believed to have included prohibiting the use of US and other military bases in Arab countries to supply Israel with weapons and ammunition; freezing Arab diplomatic, economic, security and military relations with Israel; and threats to leverage oil and Arab economic capabilities to halt the ongoing aggression.
However, at least three countries — including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which normalized ties with Israel in 2020 — rejected the proposal .
Libya proposed that the final statement of the conference should include a joint statement in support of the right of the Palestinian people to resist the Israeli occupation.
These measures were proposed and endorsed by 11 Arab countries of the 22-member body, including Palestine, Syria, Algeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Libya and Yemen.The four countries who voted against and those who abstained were not disclosed,but understood.
Despite increasing calls for an immediate ceasefire,Israel’s relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip – including hospitals, residences and houses of worship – since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7. continued unabated. So far 11,078 Palestinians have been killed, including 4,506 children and 3,027 women.
Addressing the summit Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani asked for how long the international community will treat Israel above international law.The world remains immune in front of all these scenes. Who could have imagined that hospitals could be publicly shelled in the 20th century?” he said.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said blind bombardment of Gaza must stop .He highlighted that America is supporting Israel in the UN and vetoes resolutions that prevent the killing of Palestinians.It has paved the way for Israel to kill more, to bombard more and to shell more,” .
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Western countries of double standards and highlighted what he sees as contrasts in their responses to other global conflicts. He added that “the Israeli government has to compensate for the damages that it causes. It is a shame that Western countries, always a voice for human rights and freedoms, remain silent on the massacre in Palestine,”. “We are faced with unprecedented barbarism in history, where hospitals, schools, and refugee camps are bombed and civilians are massacred.”said Erdogan.
Israel and its main backer the United States have so far rebuffed demands for a ceasefire .”This is not just about Israel-Palestine — this is about what is facilitating Israel to do this, which is basically the United States and the West,” said Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian.
The final declaration in Riyadh rejected Israeli claims that it is acting in ‘self-defense’ and demanded that the United Nations Security Council adopt ‘a decisive and binding resolution’ to halt Israel’s ‘aggression.’It also called for an end to weapons sales to Israel and dismissed any future political resolution to the conflict that would keep Gaza separate from the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In a statement issued from Gaza, Hamas called on summit participants to expel Israeli ambassadors, form a legal commission to try “Israeli war criminals” and create a reconstruction fund for the territory.
The lack of consensus at the summit was no big surprise, said Rabha Saif Allam, a specialist in Middle Eastern affairs at the Cairo Center for Strategic Studies. Differences between Washington’s Arab allies and countries closer to Iran “can’t be erased overnight”, Allam said.
“The fact that this conference was held after 35 days (of genocide) is an indication of its outcomes. Analysts say Saudi Arabia feels vulnerable to potential attacks because of its close ties with Washington and the fact that it was considering normalising ties with Israel before the war broke out.
However, prior to the meeting, Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said it did not “expect anything” to come out of it, criticising Arab leaders for the delay.”We are not placing our hopes on such meetings, for we have seen their results over many years,” Mohammad al-Hindi, the group’s deputy secretary-general, told a press conference in Beirut.
Who are the other two countries supported Israel except UAE & Bahrain?