Gaza to dominate Saudi Arabian-hosted economy summit; Israel to skip event
The war in Gaza is expected to get top billing at a Saudi Arabian-hosted special meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which begins today.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Palestinian leaders and high-ranking officials from other countries trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are on the guest list for the summit in Riyadh, the capital of the world’s biggest crude oil exporter.
“The world is today walking a tightrope… trying to balance security and prosperity,” Saudi Planning Minister Faisal al-Ibrahim told a news conference on Saturday previewing the event.
Borge Brende, the WEF president, also said on Saturday that there was “some new momentum now in the talks around the hostages, and also for… a possible way out of the impasse we are faced with in Gaza”.
However, there will be no Israeli participation at the summit and Brende noted that formal mediation involving Qatar and Egypt was unfolding elsewhere.
Saudi Arabia chairs meeting to discuss Gaza
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud chaired a meeting in Riyadh with representatives from six Arab countries to discuss the situation in Gaza, the Saudi Press Agency has reported.
The meeting was attended by Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi, Egypt’s top diplomat Sameh Shoukry, Palestinian Authority official Hussein al-Sheikh, UAE’s diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash and Qatar’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi.
The group stressed the need to end Israel’s war on Gaza and the importance of recognising the State of Palestine along the 1967 borders with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital.
They also rejected any attempt to displace Palestinians from their land and military operation in Rafah – the southernmost area of the enclave that shelters about 1.2 million people displaced by Israel’s near-seven-month war.
Saudi Arabia warns of economic fallout from Gaza war
Saudi Arabia has called for regional “stability” as it warned of the effects of the ongoing war in Gaza on global economic sentiment at the start of a summit attended by regional and global leaders.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Palestinian leaders and high-ranking officials from other countries trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas are on the guest list for the summit in the capital.
The Gaza war, along with conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere, put “a lot of pressure” on the economic “mood”, Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said at one of the first panel discussions of the two-day World Economic Forum (WEF) special meeting.
“I think cool-headed countries and leaders and people need to prevail, and you need to make sure that you actually de-escalate,” al-Jadaan said. “The region needs stability.”
Rafah attack the ‘biggest catastrophe in Palestinian people’s history’
An Israeli ground invasion of Rafah would force most of the Palestinian population to flee Gaza, says Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas told a special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh that about 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah and only a “small strike” would force those people to flee.
“The biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people’s history would then happen,” he said. “We call on the United States of America to ask Israel to not carry on the Rafah attack. America is the only country able to prevent Israel from committing this crime.”
Abbas reiterated he rejects the displacement of Palestinians into Jordan and Egypt, and said he’s concerned once Israel completes its operation in Gaza, it will attempt to force the Palestinian population out of the occupied West Bank and into Jordan.
Saudi Prince MBS: ‘We need to ease the lives of the Palestinians’
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler says the Palestinian issue is “very important” for Riyadh and “we need to ease the lives of the Palestinians”. The comments by Mohammed bin Salman come as Saudi Arabia reviews a possible “normalisation” deal with Israel in return for an independent Palestinian state.
While it is no surprise Saudi Arabia would link ties with Israel to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, “the price for normalisation, especially on the Palestinian front, has certainly gone up”, said Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian.
“What can be said is there needs to be something more tangible than theoretical. In other words, more irreversible steps that are clear-cut, rather than just promises.”
The US State Department said Secretary Blinken will discuss “a pathway to an independent Palestinian state with security guarantees for Israel” during talks in Riyadh on Monday and Tuesday.
Host Saudi tells global economic summit the world has failed Gaza
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah said: “The situation in Gaza obviously is a catastrophe by every measure – humanitarian but also a complete failing of the existing political system to deal with that crisis.”
During the first day of a Saudi-hosted World Economic Forum special meeting, he said it is in “everybody’s interest in the region, our interest, the interest of the Palestinians, the interest of the Israelis, in the interest of the global community of nations, that we find a pathway to resolve this issue once and for all”.
Only “a credible, irreversible path to a Palestinian state” will prevent the world from confronting “this same situation two, three, four years down the line”, he added.
