Arab foreign ministers call for political action to halt Israeli aggression and protect civilians in Gaza Arab League chief urges immediate ceasefire as stability of entire region is under serious threat

CAIRO — The Arab foreign ministers called for taking urgent political action at the Arab and international levels to stop the dangerous Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and provide international protection for the Palestinian people.
In a statement issued at the end of the extraordinary ministerial session of the Arab League in Cairo on Wednesday, the ministers affirmed the importance of Israel's fulfillment of the international law obligations as an occupying power for the Palestine. Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan led the Saudi delegation to the meeting, which was convened at the request of Palestine.
Reading from the final statement for the emergency meeting in Cairo, the undersecretary of the Arab League said: "We affirm on the importance of resuming the peace process and starting serious negotiations between the Palestine Liberation Organization, as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and Israel."
The meeting urged means of political action at the Arab and international levels to stop the dangerous Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, hold its perpetrators accountable, provide international protection for the Palestinian people, and achieve peace and security based on international law, international legitimacy resolutions, and the Arab Peace Initiative.
Addressing the meeting, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit underlined the need to exercise the utmost restraint and look at the consequences, saying "the retaliatory operations carried out by the Israeli occupation forces will not bring stability, but will lead us into more cycles of violence and bloodshed."
He said that the collective punishments practiced by Israel against the residents of Gaza are rejected and condemned under the international law. "We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip who are today being subjected to a massacre that must be stopped immediately and condemned in the strongest terms."
Aboul Gheit affirmed his unequivocal rejection of any violence against civilians. "Killing civilians and terrorizing them as a means to achieve a lofty political goal such as independence are unacceptable," he said while calling for an immediate ceasefire and an end to this dangerous escalation, saying "so that we do not slide into what is more dangerous, as the stability of the entire region is under serious threat."
The Arab League chief noted that the current escalation is not a result of today, but it has its root causes known to everyone, including the denial of Palestinian rights, and considering the Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza as a security problem and nothing more. "The creation of an occupation regime that actually exists, and as everyone bears witness to the apartheid system, and the elimination of the two-state solution every day through continuous settlement and the annexation of territories. All of this has dashed hope in any political horizon and has brought us to the unfortunate and dangerous point at which we stand today."
Aboul Gheit recalled that the Arab countries adopted a path to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the Arab Peace Initiative that was based on the two-state formula. "It is the only formula that provides security for all, peace for all, and stability for the region. However, Israel considered that settlement takes precedence over peace and that retaining the land is more important for safeguarding the future for the coming generations, and that the status quo can continue forever," he said while emphasizing that the Israeli government persisted in oppressing and provoking the Palestinians. "Some of its symbols unleashed hate speech and incitement," he cited while renewing the call to establish an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The emergency meeting reviewed the state of military escalation in Gaza and its surroundings, the worsening situation that threatens the lives of civilians and the security and stability of the region, and ways to provide protection for civilians in the Gaza Strip, as well as to ensure the unhindered access of relief supplies and services to them. The extraordinary session also discussed making every possible effort in communicating with all international and regional parties to stop escalation. The ministers also emphasized the necessity of adhering to international humanitarian law and not targeting civilians.
The Saudi delegation to the meeting also included Deputy Minister of Foreign for Political Affairs Dr. Saud Al-Sati, the Kingdom's Permanent Representative to the Arab League Ambassador Abdulaziz Al-Matar, and Director General of the Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulrahman Al-Dawood.