Gathered in Riyadh, the leaders of Arab and Muslim countries condemned this Saturday the “barbaric” actions of Israeli forces in Gaza, but refrained from announcing punitive economic and political measures against Israel, at war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The results of the joint summit of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) highlighted regional divisions over how to respond to the conflict, amid fears of a conflagration in the region.
They demand a “binding” UN resolution
The summit took place against a backdrop of anger in the Middle East and beyond over Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, carried out in retaliation for the unprecedented attack perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7.
This attack left around 1,200 dead on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures, while the bombings on Gaza killed more than 11,000 people, the majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health. .
The summit’s final communiqué rejected Israel’s arguments that it was acting in “self-defense” and demanded that the UN Security Council adopt a “binding” resolution to end “aggression » Israeli.
“End the occupation, siege and colonization”
He also rejected any future political solution to the conflict that would keep the Gaza Strip separate from the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Saudi Arabia “holds the (Israeli) occupation authorities responsible for crimes committed against the Palestinian people,” Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also declared at the opening of the summit.
“We are certain that the only way to guarantee security, peace and stability in the region is to end the occupation, siege and colonization,” he added.
An Iran-Saudi Arabia meeting
Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi, visiting Saudi Arabia for the first time since the rapprochement of the two countries, asked Islamic countries to designate the Israeli army as a “terrorist organization”.
He also met the Saudi prince, the first contact at this level since the reestablishment in March of diplomatic relations between the two countries thanks to Chinese mediation.
Algeria and Lebanon in particular have proposed to certain countries to sever economic and diplomatic ties with Israel and to stop supplying oil to this country and its allies, according to Arab diplomats. However, at least three countries including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, which normalized relations with Israel in 2020, rejected this proposal.
Calls for a “ceasefire” rejected
International humanitarian organizations have stepped up calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, where there is a dire shortage of drinking water and medicine.
Israel and its main ally, the United States, have so far rejected demands for a ceasefire.
“It is shameful that Western countries, which always talk about human rights and freedoms, remain silent in the face of the ongoing massacres in Palestine,” declared Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Hamas calls for expulsion of all Israeli ambassadors
Before the release of the final communiqué, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that the absence of punitive measures against Israel would make the summit “insignificant”.
Addressing the summit, Hamas notably demanded, in a press release, the “expulsion” of all Israeli ambassadors “from Arab and Muslim countries and the recall of all ambassadors from these countries.”
Iran supports Hamas but also the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, who raise fears of an extension of the conflict.
Exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah are daily on the Israeli-Lebanese border, while the Houthis have claimed several drone and missile attacks against southern Israel.