Doha, Qatar – An exigency acme of Arab and Islamic state leaders held successful Doha has condemned Israel’s “cowardly” onslaught connected Hamas leaders successful the Qatari capital, but the participants made nary promises of factual action.
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s pledge to “activate a associated defence mechanism” whitethorn person been the astir actionable effect of the summit, which was opened by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who called the Israeli bombing “blatant, treacherous, and cowardly”.
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The GCC countries, comprising of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, person formed a defence pact to code the information concerns of the subordinate states.
“My country’s superior was subjected to a treacherous onslaught targeting a residence lodging the families of Hamas leaders and their negotiating delegation,” Sheikh Tamim said successful his opening speech. The Hamas leaders had been gathering to sermon the latest United States-backed connection for a ceasefire successful Gaza.
Sheikh Tamim called for “concrete steps to code the authorities of madness of power, arrogance, and bloodthirstiness obsession that has befallen the authorities of Israel, and what resulted and continues to effect from it”.
The onslaught connected mediators proved that Israel had “no genuine involvement successful peace” and was seeking to “thwart negotiations” to extremity the warfare successful Gaza that has killed much than 64,800 Palestinians, helium said.
The emergency summit was organised aft fury swept the portion pursuing Israeli strikes connected September 9, which killed six people.
The GCC said that consultations were already nether mode among the bloc’s subject bodies to physique up “Gulf deterrent capabilities”, with a gathering of the group’s Unified Military Command to instrumentality spot soon successful Doha, according to Majed Mohammed Al-Ansari, spokesperson for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. No further details were disposable astir the caller defence mechanism, which states that an onslaught connected 1 subordinate authorities is an onslaught connected all.
“The associated connection evidently called for a gathering of the precocious bid to beryllium held present successful Doha to sermon further steps to guarantee that the information and the associated information of the GCC countries is addressed,” Al-Ansari told Al Jazeera.
“The GCC stands successful 1 line,” helium added.
Israel’s expansionist vision
The Qatari emir besides warned against Israel’s expansionist imaginativeness of the region, with repeated bombings of Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Israel has besides grabbed Syrian onshore and refused to retreat its forces from confederate Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is dreaming of making the Arab portion “an Israeli sphere of influence”, Sheikh Tamim said, adding that it “is a unsafe illusion”.
No contiguous governmental oregon economical measures were announced against the Israeli aggression astatine the summit.
But Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, the secretary-general of the GCC, urged US President Donald Trump to rein successful Washington’s closest ally, Israel.
“We expect our strategical partners successful the US to usage their power connected Israel for it to halt this behaviour – we truly bash expect that,” Albudaiwi said.
“They person leverage and power implicit Israel, and it’s astir clip that this leverage and power are used”.
Despite expectations of much forceful measures, the summit’s last communique mostly consisted of condemnations and pledges of solidarity.
“We condemn successful the strongest presumption Israel’s cowardly and amerciable onslaught connected the State of Qatar. We respond with implicit solidarity with Qatar and enactment for its steps,” work the memo issued by subordinate states of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The communique besides praised Qatar’s effect to the attacks, voiced solidarity with Doha’s mediation relation alongside Egypt and the US, and rejected immoderate justification for further aggression.
The subordinate states besides rejected “Israel’s repeated threats of the anticipation of targeting Qatar again”.
When questioned astir these threats, arsenic good arsenic Israel’s resoluteness to people Hamas “anywhere”, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Al-Ansari said Qatar would marque usage of the planetary strategy to clasp Israel to account.
“We volition clasp Israel accountable successful the planetary community, and our instrumentality successful doing that is our content successful planetary instrumentality and planetary organisations,” helium said.
“This is wherefore we went to the [United Nations] Security Council and now, of course, to the Arab and Islamic Organisations and GCC … we are moving precise intimately with each our partners to marque definite that we deter Prime Minister Netanyahu from attacking sovereign states again.”
Tougher calls by idiosyncratic states
While the associated communique stopped abbreviated of hard measures, respective Arab and Islamic leaders tabled stronger, much actionable responses to Israel.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Arab and Muslim leaders to use economical unit connected Israel, arguing that “past acquisition has proven the occurrence of specified pressure”.
He besides called for Israeli officials to beryllium brought to justness done planetary ineligible mechanisms.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that “the heinous onslaught connected Qatari territory is simply a sedate usurpation of planetary instrumentality and sets a unsafe precedent”.
“I accidental to the radical of Israel that what is happening present is sabotaging the existing bid agreements, and the consequences volition beryllium dire,” helium said. Egypt was the archetypal Arab state to found diplomatic relations with Israel successful 1979.
Pakistan, meanwhile, urged the UN to suspend Israel, and besides called for an Arab-Islamic task force.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the task unit should “adopt effectual measures to ward disconnected Israeli expansionist designs”.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, stated that “condemnations volition not halt the missiles, declarations volition not escaped Palestine”.
He pressed for strict sanctions and the suspension of diplomatic and commercialized relations with Israel.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier connected Monday had besides urged Muslim nations to chopped ties with Israel.
“We should enactment unneurotic to basal up to Israeli behaviour due to the fact that Israel has violated the sovereignty of a fig of Arab and Muslim states nether the mendacious pretext of self-defence,” helium said.
Andrea Dessi, adjunct prof of planetary relations astatine the University of Rome, said the Doha acme marked a alteration of code among Arab Islamic states.
“At the rhetorical level, we are seeing the beginnings of a coming together, of a alteration of code and a alteration of caput – the actions volition person to follow,” Dessi told Al Jazeera.
The prof said the lawsuit was important, arsenic Arab and Muslim leaders agreed that “something has to alteration successful presumption of the information architecture of the region. We are acold distant from this, but determination are movements”.
As the acme was being held successful Doha, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio travelled to Israel to conscionable Netanyahu, who again threatened to people Hamas leaders if Qatar did not expel them. But Trump connected Monday repeated his assertion that Israel would not onslaught Qatar again.
Al-Ansari said that Qatar has “been engaging precise intimately with the Trump administration”.
He told reporters that Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani had “excellent” meetings successful New York successful the past week, and that discussions connected adjacent steps betwixt the allies are taking place.
Rubio is expected to sojourn Doha connected Tuesday.