Senior officials from the 22 member states and UN are set to issue declaration at talks to help resolve conflict
Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza
Arab leaders and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attended the 33rd Arab League summit in Manama on Thursday, with the talks to include a call for an international peace conference to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli crisis.
Leaders and representatives from the 22 Arab League member states, as well as Mr Guterres, met at Sakhir Palace, in south Bahrain. The Palestinian crisis and Israel’s war on the besieged Gaza Strip will top the agenda at the summit.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed, Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Presidential Court, will represent the UAE at the talks.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will also attend and is expected to address the summit. Syrian President Bashar Al Assad is attending the summit for the second time since his country returned to the fold last year.
Israel has launched military operations in Rafah, in southern Gaza, as well as in the north of the enclave. At least 600,000 Palestinians have been driven out of Rafah since the beginning of last week, the UN said. In northern Gaza, Israeli evacuation orders have displaced at least 100,000.
Opening the summit on Thursday, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa said Manama is hosting the Arab League summit amid “painful and unprecedented” circumstances, saying the Palestinians have been denied their freedoms and right to “define their future”.
“In light of the denial of their legitimate rights to security, freedom and self-determination of the brotherly Palestinian people, our need increases to formulate a joint and urgent Arab and international position that adopts the path of dialogue and collective solidarity to stop the bloodshed of wars and bring about a final and just peaceful solution,” Bahrain’s King Hamad said as he opened the summit.
The Bahraini King said the establishment of an independent Palestinian state will bring “positivity to the entire Arab region to overcome its crises and to join hands for the sake of progressive development in support of all Palestinian brothers”.
For his part, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman confirmed the kingdom’s support for the establishment of a Palestinian state and its international recognition, calling for the international community to “stop the brutal aggression against our Palestinian brothers”.
He also called for resolving disputes through peaceful means, adding that Riyadh has “supported efforts to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” stressing the importance of “maintaining the security of the Red Sea region”.
media reported previously that the final communique, called the Bahrain declaration, is to include strong actionable clauses to resolve the conflict. Plans are to include an international peace conference begin held in Manama in the coming months, to rebuild international momentum to revive the two-state solution.
An unofficial draft of the final communique, seen by media, included a clause that would call for the “deployment of international protection and peacekeeping forces affiliated with the United Nations in the occupied Palestinian territory until the two-state solution is implemented”.
In recent weeks, Arab leaders have rejected western pressure to agree to send troops into Gaza after the conflict.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs, said the country “refuses to be drawn into any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip”, denouncing comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Last month, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Arab states would not send troops to Gaza, and will not allow themselves to be tied to the “misery this war has created”.
The draft communique shows the Arab leaders will also “set a time limit for the political process and negotiations” over the introduction of a two-state solution, which will include a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit opened his address by decrying Israel’s continuation of “its ethnic cleansing operations in Gaza by force”.
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
