Focus on Gaza, Palestinian state at GCC summit ‘very telling’
The extent to which GCC leaders brought up the war in Gaza and repeated calls for a Palestinian state during the GCC-US summit was “very telling” and shows that they are approaching this issue collectively, says Abdulaziz Alghashian, the director of research at Riyadh-based Observer Research Foundation Middle East.
“There seems to be an agreement of bringing up this issue as a collective,” he told Al Jazeera. “I think [that] this not only strengthens the position but avoids any kind of repercussions on the bilateral front.”
GCC-US summit marked by lack of urgency on Gaza
The lack of urgency that GCC leaders have brought to the war in Gaza stands in sharp contrast with the message the UN’s top humanitarian official has delivered to the UN Security Council, political analyst Sultan Barakat tells Al Jazeera.
“Achieving a deal in Syria was cast as the major achievement, even though it was already a low-hanging fruit,” Barakat, who lectures in public policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, said.
The lifting of sanctions on Syria and the meeting between Trump and al-Sharaa were “used to substitute for the failure to get anything substantive on Gaza”.
“We needed, as Arab countries, to tie stability and prosperity to the end of the conflict in Palestine,” he added.
Trump wants Syria to normalise relations with Israel
In his meeting with Syria’s interim President al-Sharaa, Trump said Syria should sign the Abraham Accords, normalising relations with Israel, the White House said.
Syria should sign his racist accords while Israel keeps bombing Syria and occupying parts of Syria?
Iran hits back at Trump’s ‘deceptive’ view of its regional role
Iran’s foreign minister has slammed Trump’s remarks that Tehran contributes to “collapse and suffering” in the region, instead pointing to Israel as a destabilising force.
“Unfortunately, this is a very deceptive view,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said of Trump’s comments. “The Iranian nation pursues the same aspirations toward progress and prosperity as other regional countries. It is the US with its sanctions and threats which has blocked Iran’s path to progress.
“Trump turns a blind eye to Israel’s crimes and wants to present Iran as a threat to the region,” he added.
