Qatar meeting to send a ‘very strong statement to Netanyahu’
According to Faisal Abdulhameed al-Mudhahka, chief editor at the Doha-based Gulf Times, the emergency meeting in Qatar is very likely to result in concrete measures against Israel instead of just strongly worded condemnations.
“It’s been the narrative of the Arab summit that there are only statements of condemnation. But I don’t think that’s the case today,” al-Mudhahka told Al Jazeera.
“I think it will be [the adoption of] certain measures that will give a very strong statement to Netanyahu.”
The Arab and Muslim world is intently awaiting the outcome of the meeting, he added, describing it as a show of solidarity by the region.
The US, meanwhile, remains a strategic partner of Qatar, a relationship that dates back to the 1970s, al-Mudhahka explained, adding that the Israeli attack is unlikely to change that.
He hoped for an opportunity at the meeting to continue pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza despite Israel’s attack on Doha seemingly hurting the negotiating process.
Qatar summit preparatory meeting to address draft statement
As we reported earlier, a preparatory meeting for the Arab-Islamic summit, scheduled to take place on Monday, has kicked off in Qatar’s capital, Doha.
According to the state news agency QNA, the event is being chaired by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani with the participation of the foreign ministers of the member states of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
The meeting will address a draft statement regarding the Israeli attack against Qatar on Tuesday, it added.
Qatar’s PM speaks at Arab-Islamic meeting
Qatar’s prime minister has spoken at the meeting in Doha. Here is a summary of what he has said:
- The Arab states at the summit condemn the “barbaric” Israeli attack and support the lawful measures Qatar will take to safeguard its sovereignty.
- The attack must be met with fierce and firm measures.
- It’s time for the international community to abandon dual standards and to hold Israel accountable for all the crimes perpetrated by it.
- Israel must know that the continuous genocidal war against the Palestinian people, aiming at forcibly transferring them outside their homeland, cannot succeed, no matter what false justification is provided.
- The Israeli government continues to turn down proposal after proposal, intentionally widening the circle of war facing the region’s peoples, including their own, and does so at a grave risk.
Arab League chief slams Israel’s ‘belligerence’, unchecked ‘war crimes’
We can now bring you a summary of remarks from Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Doha:
- The Doha summit should send a clear message of Arab-Islamic solidarity with Qatar in the wake of Israel’s “act of belligerence” and violation of Qatar’s “sovereignty”.
- “Silence and inaction” from the international community have “encouraged” Israel to continue its “crimes”, believing it will be able to carry them out with “impunity”.
- Arab and Islamic countries “should focus on stopping Israel from continuing its “heinous, disgraceful war” in Gaza.
- We must seek to bring to account those responsible for “evidenced war crimes”, including “killing civilians, starving the population and driving an entire population homeless”.
