Saudi Crown Prince Demands Immediate End to Israel’s Aggression in Gaza, Lebanon
Riyadh, MINA – Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has demanded that Israel immediately stop its military aggression in Gaza and Lebanon at the opening of a summit of Arab and Muslim leaders in Riyadh, Al Jazeera reported.
In an address before the joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit on Monday, the crown prince, also known as MBS, condemned the “massacre committed against Palestinian and Lebanese people”.
He urged Israel “to refrain from any further act of aggression” and called on countries around the world to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary-general of the Arab League, also joined MBS in condemning Israel’s military operation in Gaza and Lebanon, saying that “words cannot express the plight of the Palestinian people”.
“The actions taken by Israel against the Palestinian people are undermining efforts to achieve lasting peace. It is only with justice that we will be able to establish lasting peace,” Aboul Gheit said.
“The world cannot turn a blind eye” to Israeli violence, he stressed.
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati told the summit that his country was suffering an “unprecedented” crisis that threatens its existence, as Israel wages war on Hezbollah.
“Lebanon is going through an unprecedented historical and existential crisis that threatens its present and future,” he said.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian did not attend the meeting due to pressing “executive matters”.
But Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref condemned Israel’s assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders as “organised terrorism” in remarks to the summit.
“The operations that are conceptualised with the deceptive phrasing of ‘targeted killing’, and during which Palestinian elites and leaders of other countries in the region are killed one by one or en masse, are nothing but lawlessness and organised terrorism,” he said.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu also attended the summit.
The summit comes a year after a similar gathering in Riyadh of the Cairo-based Arab League and the Jeddah-based OIC, during which leaders condemned Israeli actions in Gaza as “barbaric”.
However, leaders were unable to agree on action against Israel despite calls to sever economic and diplomatic ties with the country or disrupt its oil supplies.
The 57-member OIC and 22-member Arab League include countries that recognise Israel and those firmly opposed to its regional integration. (T/RE1/P2)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
