Leaders from Arab and Islamic nations at the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit have condemned Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and called for an immediate cessation of hostility.
They also called for a convening of an international peace conference through which a realistic peace would be launched at the Summit held during the weekend in Riyad, Saudi Arabia.
A communique from the Summit attended by world leaders of states and governments of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the League of the Arab States called for an immediate halt to all Israeli military operations in Gaza and rejected any rationalisation of the war.
They claimed it was a continuation of the 1967 aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and East Jerusalem.
The summit demanded a decisive and binding resolution by the United Nations Security Council that would impose a cessation of aggression and put an end to Israeli occupation practices that violate international law, international humanitarian law, and international legitimacy resolutions, the most recent of which is UNGA Resolution No. AES-101.25 dated 10/26/2013.
It charged the UN Security Council to “adopt an immediate resolution condemning Israel’s barbaric destruction of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, the prevention of the entry of medicine, food, and fuel into it, and the cutting-off of electricity, water supply and basic services, including communication and internet services, being a collective punishment that constitutes a war crime under international law”.
It said failure to heed the demands amounts to the legitimization of Israel’s violent onslaught, which ended in the deaths of innocent people, children, the elderly, and women, and the destruction of Gaza, adding that it was imperative for Israel to lift the blockade it has imposed on the Gaza Strip for years.
The Summit condemned some nations’ shipment of arms and ammunition to Israel, which it said have been used to commit horrific crimes such as the killing of Palestinians and the destruction of their houses, hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, and other facilities, asking, therefore, for the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor to complete the investigation into Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Palestinian people in all occupied Palestinian territories, including East Al-Quds.
The General Secretariats of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States were mandated to establish two joint specialised legal monitoring units to document the crimes, to “Prepare legal arguments regarding all violations of international law and international humanitarian law committed by Israel, the occupying power, against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Al-Quds”.
The summit condemned the killings of journalists, children, and women, as well as the targeting of paramedics, and urged the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate Israel’s intentional use of banned chemical weapons on the civilian population in Gaza. It said it was rejecting any proposals involving the separation of Gaza from the West Bank, including East Al-Quds, and insisted that any approach to Gaza’s future must be placed within the context of a comprehensive solution that guarantees the unity of Gaza and the West Bank as the territory of the Palestinian State, which must be embodied in a free, independent, sovereign state with East Al-Quds as its capital along the borders of 4 June 1967.
The Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit was attended by Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as well as other prominent government figures.
