https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/12/gulf-states-fend-off-call-from-iran-to-arm-palestinians-at-riyadh-summitGulf states fend off call from Iran to arm Palestinians at Riyadh summit
Gulf state leaders have fended off an Iranian-led attempt to call for arming the Palestinians and severing all diplomatic ties with Israel at an extraordinary summit in Riyadh, in a effort to retain control of the region’s diplomatic response to the Israeli assault on Gaza.
Tehran, however, insisted on Sunday that its influence remained through its allied “resistance factions” operating in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.
The head of Hezbollah’s executive council, Hashem Safieddine, said on Sunday: “The occupying regime [Israel] is delusional and mistaken if it believes that it can eliminate the Hamas movement or other resistance factions. The resistance front has developed both in terms of presence and strength.”
The relatively tepid outcome of the Riyadh summit, attended by 51 leaders in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), left some disappointed, but others insisting the moral force of the unified support for Palestine shown by the Islamic world would force the US to rein in Israel.
The refusal of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to engage with US proposals for a long humanitarian pause and longer-term solution, including a future role for the Palestinian Authority, has angered the Biden administration.
In an unprecedented diplomatic push by Iran to force the Gulf monarchies to adopt a more interventionist approach, the country’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, travelled to Riyadh on Saturday, the first Iranian leader to do so in 11 years, in an effort to persuade the Gulf states to take a tougher approach and explicitly back Hamas.
The final OIC communique, however, was long on condemnation and demands for an immediate ceasefire, but short on practical steps to help Hamas.
It called for an end to the sale of weapons and ammunition to Israel
It also called on the international criminal court and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to investigate possible Israeli war crimes, and for more decisive action from the UN security council.
Raisi praised Hamas in his speech, saying: “There is no other way than to resist Israel, we kiss the hands of Hamas for its resistance against Israel”. That view was not shared by most Gulf leaders, but it was echoed by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He said: “They want us to classify Hamas as a terrorist. No, it is not a terrorist. They are fighting for their homeland and struggling to obtain their rights.”
In the run-up to the Arab League summit, however, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain opposed moves led by Algeria to close down US bases in the region and impose a trade boycott.
Based on how Israel is treating the Palestinians, they should all be armed and militarized!