Leaders of Arab and Muslim countries converged in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. They huddled to talk about the most pressing issue of the world. What appeared from this event was that it was a grand talk show, where some leaders who preferred to keep mum on the subject broke their silence. There was no sign of any action. Therefore, it was not sufficient. But whatever the world noticed was better late than never. It was named as an extraordinary summit.
When the leaders of the member countries of the Cairo-based Arab League and Jeddah-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, rushed to Riyadh, people never expected the words which were uttered by some of its leaders. The leaders of only a few countries who were very vocal against Israeli barbarism were from Turkiye, Iran and Malaysia.
This summit proved to be different because Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the first time used harshest words against Israeli barbarism. He condemned “massacre committed against Palestinians and Lebanese people.”
He demanded that Israel should stop its military aggression in Gaza Strip and Lebanon without any delay. He talked all this in the opening ceremony of the summit, which gave a clear indication of the coming deliberations at the event which the world watched closely. He was candid enough when he urged Israel “to refrain from any further act of aggression.”
Mohammed bin Salman who has been vigorously advocating for a two-state solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict, used the opportunity to call on the countries of the world to recognise Palestine as a state.
His speech was highlighted by some of the international media houses. This is because many in the world have noticed that Saudi Arabia was under pressure to normalise relations with Israel. But the American effort to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel closer was sabotaged by Hamas retaliatory action against Israel on October 7, 2023 and the recent Israeli act of genocide against Palestinians. Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly saying that it will not make any movement forward in the direction of normalisation of ties with Israel without the world recognising Palestine as a state according to 1967 borders under a two-state solution formula.
What Mohammed bin Salman has uttered in the summit was seen as a grandstanding on the face of Israeli genocide. He also used the opportunity to create an atmosphere for unity among Arab and Muslim countries. There are 57 members of the OIC and 22 members of the Arab League.
It happened when more than 400 days of the act of barbarism and genocide by Israel have passed and still continuing. More than 43,000 people of Gaza have been killed, of whom around 16,500 are children. More than 10,000 are still missing. More than 100,000 people were injured in Gaza. In the West Bank also at least 780 people have been killed and 6,000 injured in Israeli attacks.
Ahmed AboulGheit, secretary general of the Arab League, also denounced Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and Lebanon.
“The actions taken by Israel against the Palestinian people are undermining efforts to achieve lasting peace. It is only with justice that we will be able to establish lasting peace,” he said.
Iran’s President MasoudPezeshkian did not attend the meeting. But Iran’s vice president Mohammad Reza Aref reached Saudi capital Riyadh and condemned Israel’s “organised terrorism.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was also there.
Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu also attended the summit.
“Gaza is the land of Palestinian people, the US needs to accept this,” says Türkiye’s President Erdogan.
“For the first time, we are proposing a ‘Denuclearisation Conference’ in the region due to Israel’s nuclear weapons,” Erdogan told reporters aboard the presidential plane on his way back from the Saudi capital Riyadh, after attending the Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit.
The world media showed their speeches, most prominently that of Mohammed bin Salman. Perhaps, because the world did not expect it, as he remained silent on the genocide committed by Israel. But he made his point eloquently in this extraordinary Arab Islamic summit. His tone and tenor were important because of its timing.
In his speech, he expressed the sentiments of the Arab streets. He did it when Donal Trump was putting together his team. He is the mastermind of the Abraham Accord which was signed by four Arab countries under his auspices, including two Gulf countries, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Saudi Arabia is under huge pressure to join the bandwagon of normalisation with Israel. Trump knows that without Saudi Arabia normalising its ties with Israel, there is no meaning of Abraham Accord due the status and stature of Saudi Arabia and Arab and Muslim World.
Therefore, Mohammed bin Salman gave a clear message that in the current circumstances when Israel is carrying out genocide in Gaza and now in Lebanon also, the atmosphere is not conducive even to think about such a policy. He must have felt that now that Donald Trump is back in power, he would exert more pressure on Saudi Arabia for it. Therefore, he showed that he could not go against the popular sentiments of not only Saudi, but also Arab and Islamic states against the stubborn Zionist entity. But he made it clear that the summit was held to call for an end of the war and a two-state solution of the Palestinian issue.
A year back a similar Arab and Islamic summit was held in Riyadh. It was given extensive coverage by the local, regional and international media. It also was criticised by not being as per popular expectation from these countries. This time, it failed to draw international media attention. The local Saudi media covered its deliberations. Regional and international media also showed some of the speeches. But there was no mention of commentary and analysis in print or electronic media. However, this summit was entirely different because of the high level participation of the Iranian delegation and Saudi show of solidarity with the entire Arab and Islamic world on the issue of Gaza.
The massive presence of the leadership of the Arab and Islamic countries in this summit reflected that it was held after the return of Donald Trump in US administration and Republicans occupying the majority in the Congress. This participation and the words used in the concluding statement were nothing but to remind Trump of his election promises that he is committed to ending war in the region.
The resolution adopted at the end of the extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit held in Riyadh stressed the importance of the Palestinian issue and reiterated unwavering support for the Palestinian people to achieve their legitimate rights. The right of refugees to return and to receive compensation according to international resolutions and conventions were also part of the resolution which also denounced any attempts to deny or undermine these rights.
It also talked about the sovereignty of the Republic of Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The summit also called on all countries of the world to prohibit the export or transfer of arms and ammunition to Israel. It also urged the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution compelling Israel to halt its unlawful policies that threaten regional peace and security and to enforce relevant UN resolutions regarding Jerusalem.
The resolution urged effective international players to launch a step by step plan with a clear timeline, under international sponsorship, to end the Israeli occupation and establish a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.
However, this 4,000-word 38-point resolution of the joint extraordinary summit could not make it clear if the Arab and Islamic leaders who participated in it had any joint action plan if their appeals went unheard by the international community.