The Council of the League of Arab States, at the level of permanent delegates, affirmed its support for the joint efforts of the State of Qatar and the Arab Republic of Egypt aimed at reaching a permanent ceasefire and restoring life to normal in the Gaza Strip.
This came in the final statement issued by the meeting of the extraordinary session of the Arab League Council, which was held today at the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States in Cairo at the request of the State of Palestine, to discuss Israeli crimes and plans against the Palestinian people.
The statement condemned the continued crimes of Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, targeting tens of thousands of civilians, and subjecting the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip to a deadly siege that cuts off all means of life and the destruction of infrastructure, stressing that these crimes in their entirety constitute the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
The statement also called on the United States of America and the countries that support the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people within the Security Council to adopt positions consistent with international law and international humanitarian law, and to call for a complete and sustainable ceasefire and obligate Israel to stop its aggression against the Palestinian people, warning of the danger of Israel's planning and committing the crime of forced displacement of about two million Palestinian citizens who have become displaced inside the Gaza Strip.
The statement stressed that the Arab countries will not allow the Nakba scenario of 1948 to be repeated, or the Israeli plans to displace the Palestinian people to succeed; and will take the necessary political, diplomatic, legal and economic steps to prevent it.
The statement called for the rapid implementation of Security Council Resolution No. 2720 (2023) and taking urgent steps to allow the immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and to create the necessary conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities, welcoming the decision of the UN Secretary-General of the United Nations appointing Chief Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs and Reconstruction in Gaza.
The statement condemned the escalation of Israeli crimes in the occupied West Bank, including the systematic destruction of Palestinian refugee camps and their infrastructure, as well as the daily incursions into dozens of Palestinian cities, villages and camps, the terrorism of Israeli settlers, the killing and wounding of hundreds of Palestinian citizens, the demolition of homes, and the arrest of thousands of Palestinians in inhumane conditions.
The statement also condemned the Israeli siege imposed on Al-Aqsa Mosque for more than a hundred days, which includes undermining the freedom of worship in the mosque, preventing worshipers from entering it, desecrating it, storming it, desecrating it, and vandalizing its contents.
The statement affirmed support for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan's custodianship of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, stressing that the Blessed Al Aqsa Mosque with its entire area of 144 thousand square metres, is a pure place of worship for Muslims, stressing that the Jordanian administration of the Jerusalem Endowments and the affairs of the Blessed Al Aqsa Mosque are the legal authority.
The statement called on countries still providing weapons and ammunition to Israel to stop doing so, as these weapons are then used to kill Palestinian civilians and destroy their cities, thus, making these countries complicit in crime. Moreover, It called on countries whose citizens are participating in the Israeli occupation army and its crimes, to take the necessary legal measures to hold these citizens accountable and prevent them from doing so.
The statement expressed the Arab League Councils appreciation for the Republic of South Africa taking Israel to the International Court of Justice, urging more peace-loving and international law-abiding countries to follow suit. It also welcome Libya's joining the prosecution team.
It also appreciated the countries that referred the situation in Palestine to the International Criminal Court, and urged countries to provide justice to the victims and prevent the perpetrators from escaping punishment. The statement called on the International legal system to process swiftly and carry out its investigation professionally and impartially.
The statement called on states to designate Israeli settler organizations on their terrorist lists, and to prevent the entry of Israeli settlers into their territories.
The statement also denounced the repeated Israeli attacks on Lebanese and Syrian territories, as an assault on the sovereignty of the Arab countries and a threat to the security of its citizens and to regional and international peace and security.
The statement stressed that the only way to achieve security, stability and peace in the region is for the Palestinian people to gain their freedom and independence by ending the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine occupied in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and enabling the State of Palestine to exercise its full sovereignty over its land, and enabling the Palestinian people to exercise all their legitimate and inalienable rights.
The statement affirmed its support for all the steps taken by the Arab Republic of Egypt to tackle the consequences of the brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, supporting its efforts to bring aid into the Strip in an immediate, sustainable and adequate manner, and supporting the steps that Egypt is taking in defense of its national security, which is an essential part of Arab national security.
The statement welcomed Algeria's efforts as a non-permanent Arab member of the UN Security Council, including its call to hold an emergency public session of the Security Council to stop forced displacement in Gaza, and noted the unanimous consensus in the session on rejecting the policy of forced displacement. It also commended the efforts of the UAE during its membership period extending from (2022/2023) as a non-permanent member of the Security Council in following up on developments in the Palestinian issue and the Council's adoption of Resolutions 2712 (2023) and 2720 (2023).
The statement called for the formation of an open-ended temporary committee of permanent delegates and the General Secretariat, to study Arab measures that can be taken at the legal, economic, political and diplomatic levels to activate and implement the contents of this resolution, and to issue its report and circulate it to member states within a week of its date.
The statement also called on the Councils of Arab Ambassadors, the delegations of the Arab League in countries and in regional and international organizations to take urgent action with visits, communications, and messages to convey the contents of this decision and act in accordance with it, and for the Secretary-General of the Arab League to follow up on the implementation of this decision, and to submit a report thereon to the next session of the Arab League Council.
