MANAMA: Representative of HH the Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, urged the international community and UN Security Council to force the Zionist occupation to immediately stop its military operations in Gaza Strip. Addressing the Arab Summit in Manama, HH the Prime Minister strongly condemned the Zionist occupation forces’ assault on Rafah which would have consequences on civilians who lack safe havens.
He called for providing international protection for the Palestinian people, swift delivery of humanitarian aid and stopping expansion of the war in the region, and underlined the important role of UNRWA. HH the Prime Minister rejected calls for the forced displacement of the people of Gaza and thus having neighboring countries bear the humanitarian impacts, which are in violation of international humanitarian principles.
HH the Prime Minister called on the UN Security Council to grant the State of Palestine full membership status, welcoming the UN General Assembly’s resolution, adopted on May 9, 2024, which supported Palestine’s membership. Kuwait, he said, would always remain committed to supporting the Palestinian cause and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and their just cause. Kuwait, he added, was committed to UN resolutions, the Arab peace initiative and establishment of an independent Palestinian state on June 4, 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, "which is a major condition to achieve peace and security in the region”.
HH the Prime Minister said the Zionist occupation’s killing, deliberate destruction and genocide were blatant and unprecedented violations of international laws and human values. The region will never see peace, security and stability, and people would never feel justice while the Palestinian people are unable to gain their legitimate rights, he said.
HH the Prime Minister called on Arab countries to coordinate and cooperate to confront serious challenges to honor aspirations of "our people for security and stability”. He, meanwhile, called for free and safe navigation in international waters in line with international law and law of the seas, securing energy supplies, rejected all forms of interference in the sovereignty of Arab countries and reaffirmed importance of dialogue, peaceful solutions and respect of sovereignty of nations and international agreements.
Arab leaders also congratulated HH the Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on assuming power, wishing him success and the best of luck, and Kuwait and its people further progress and prosperity. In their final statement, they also voiced heartfelt condolences over the passing of late Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
The Arab League also called for a UN peacekeeping force in the Palestinian territories and an international peace conference at a summit dominated by the war between the Zionist entity and Hamas. In its final statement following the meeting in Manama, the 22-member grouping called for "international protection and peacekeeping forces of the United Nations in the occupied Palestinian territories” until a two-state solution is implemented.
It also adopted calls by host Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa AlKhalifa and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to "convene an international conference under the auspices of the United Nations, to resolve the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution”. The meeting of Arab heads of state and government convened in Bahrain more than seven months into the conflict in Gaza that has convulsed the wider region.
The Zionist entity has killed at least 35,272 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and a Zionist siege has brought dire food shortages and the threat of famine. Abbas told the summit his political rivals in Hamas gave the Zionist entity an excuse to wage war on Gaza with its Oct 7 attack from the Palestinian territory. "The military operation carried out by Hamas by a unilateral decision on that day, October 7, provided (the Zionist entity) with more pretexts and justifications to attack the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Speaking at the summit, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the war in Gaza as "an open wound that threatens to infect the entire region”, calling for "the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages”. Guterres said "the only permanent way to end the cycle of violence and instability is through a two-state solution”.
The "Manama Declaration” issued by the Arab nations also urged "all Palestinian factions to join under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization”, which is dominated by Abbas’ ruling Fatah movement. It added that it considered the PLO "the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”. It is the first time the bloc has come together since an extraordinary summit in Riyadh, capital of neighboring Saudi Arabia, in November that also involved leaders from the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, based in the Saudi city of Jeddah.
While in November leaders declined the approval of punitive steps against the Zionist entity, Kuwaiti analyst Zafer Al-Ajmi told AFP the meeting in Manama differed from recent summits. Western public opinion has become "more inclined to support the Palestinians and lift the injustice inflicted on them” since the Zionist entity’s creation more than 70 years ago, Ajmi said. Meanwhile, the Zionist entity had failed to achieve its war objectives including destroying Hamas and was now mired in fighting, he said.
In a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza war, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have launched a flurry of attacks on vital shipping lanes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November. The summit in Bahrain "strongly condemned the attacks on commercial ships”, saying they "threaten freedom of navigation, international trade, and the interests of countries and peoples of the world”. The declaration added the Arab nations’ commitment to "ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea” and surrounding areas. – Agencies