In Riyadh, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation hold a joint summit in the hope of reaching a “unified” position on the war in Gaza
Arab leaders and Iran’s president are meeting in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for a joint summit that is expected to highlight the urgency of ending Israel’s attacks on Gaza before conflict engulfs the region. The emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are being held in Riyadh five weeks after the start of the war triggered by the bloody attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil, the October 7.
The Arab League and the OIC were initially scheduled to hold their meetings separately, but the Saudi foreign ministry announced early Saturday that the two organizations’ summits would be held jointly. This decision underlines the need to achieve “a unified collective position that expresses the common Arab and Muslim will regarding the dangerous and unprecedented events observed in Gaza and the Palestinian territories”said the Saudi Press Agency.
The Arab League will address “the way forward on the international stage to end the aggression, support Palestine and its people, condemn the Israeli occupation and hold it accountable for its crimes”declared Thursday the deputy secretary general of the Arab League, Hossam Zaki.
Islamic Jihad, Hamas’ ally in Gaza, however, said it did not ” Nothing “ expect from this meeting. “We do not place our hopes in such meetings”which never produced results, Mohammad Al-Hindi, deputy secretary general of the group, said Friday at a press conference in Beirut. “The fact that this conference is being held after thirty-five days [de guerre] » is a clear indication, he added.
Israel and its main ally, the United States, have so far rejected demands for a ceasefire, a stance that is expected to draw sharp criticism at Saturday’s meetings.
The expected participation on Saturday of the Iranian President, Ebrahim Raïssi, will also mark his first visit to Saudi Arabia since the surprise announcement in March of the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two heavyweights of the Middle East, after seven years of rupture . Iran supports Palestinian Hamas, but also Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who raise fears of an extension of the conflict.
Exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah are daily on the Israeli-Lebanese border, while Yemeni rebels have claimed several drone and missile attacks against southern Israel.
The Saudi monarchy, which maintains close ties with the United States and which considered normalizing relations with Israel before the war, fears being targeted, analysts say. On Friday, the crown prince and de facto ruler of the kingdom, Mohammed Ben Salman, denounced the “continued violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli occupying forces”in his first public statement about the war.