Arab leaders and Iran’s president are meeting in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for a joint summit that is expected to highlight the urgency of ending Israel’s attacks on Gaza before conflict engulfs the region.
The emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are being held in Riyadh five weeks after the start of the war triggered by the bloody attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil, the October 7.
Around 1,200 people were killed on the Israeli side, the majority civilians on the day of the Hamas attack, according to a new official toll revised downwards on Friday by the authorities. And 239 people were kidnapped and taken to the Gaza Strip, according to the same source.
Since then, Israel has relentlessly bombed the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas, killing more than 11,000 people, including at least 4,500 children, according to the Hamas government’s Health Ministry.
The Arab League and the OIC were initially scheduled to hold their meetings separately, but the Saudi Foreign Ministry announced early Saturday that the two organizations’ summits would be held jointly.
This decision highlights the need to reach “a unified collective position that expresses the common Arab and Muslim will regarding the dangerous and unprecedented events observed in Gaza and the Palestinian territories,” the Saudi Press Agency said.
The Arab League will address “the way forward on the international stage to end the aggression, support Palestine and its people, condemn the Israeli occupation and hold it accountable for its crimes,” the deputy secretary general of the Arab League said on Thursday. the Arab League, Hossam Zaki.
No hopes
Islamic Jihad, Hamas’ ally in Gaza, said, however, that it did not expect “anything” from this meeting. “We do not place our hopes in such meetings” which have never produced results, Mohammad al-Hindi, deputy secretary general of the group, said Friday at a press conference in Beirut.
“The fact that this conference is being held after 35 days (of war)” is a clear indication, he added.
Israel and its main ally the United States have so far rejected demands for a ceasefire, a stance expected to draw sharp criticism at Saturday’s meetings.
According to Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian, fingers should not only be pointed at Israel, but also those who “make it easier for it (…) that is, essentially the United States and the West.” .
The differences in position were clearly displayed during the latest visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region, and that of British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly on Thursday in Riyadh, where he met some of his counterparts Arabs.
“What we have said is that it is understandable to call for a ceasefire, but we also recognize that Israel is taking steps to ensure its own stability and security,” Mr. Cleverly said. .
Iranian-Saudi relationship
The expected participation on Saturday of Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi will also mark his first visit to Saudi Arabia since the surprise announcement in March of the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two heavyweights of the Middle East, after seven years of rupture.
Iran supports Palestinian Hamas but also Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who raise fears of an extension of the conflict.
Exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah are daily on the Israeli-Lebanese border while Yemeni rebels have claimed several drone and missile attacks against southern Israel.
The Saudi monarchy, which maintains close ties with the United States and which before the war considered normalizing relations with Israel, fears being targeted, analysts say.
On Friday, the kingdom’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, denounced “continued violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli occupying forces” in his first public statement on the war.
“The Saudis hope that the fact of not having yet normalized their relations and having a channel (of communication) with the Iranians gives them some protection,” said Kim Ghattas, author of a book on the Iranian rivalry. -Saudi, during a round table organized by the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
“And I think the Iranians hope that the fact that they are in contact with the Saudis (…) also offers them some protection,” she added.