By Abayomi Azikiwe
A recent gathering of two multilateral organizations, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), has demanded united action to halt the genocide in Gaza and the rapidly spreading war throughout the West Asia region.
Representatives from Pakistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia among many others delivered addresses which condemned the Zionist regime in Palestine saying emphatically that Tel Aviv must be isolated from the global trade and international bodies such as the United Nations.
Since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, 2023, the military forces of the settler-colonial state have killed more than 43,000 people in the Gaza Strip. These are the official figures given by the Gaza Health Ministry which are combined with more than 102,000 injured.
All of the 2.3 million people living in the enclave which even prior to the latest genocidal onslaught was described as the largest open-air prison in the world, today are displaced. The zionist military routinely issues evacuation orders prior to bombing civilian areas. In other cases, there are no orders to leave the impacted areas which are housing units, neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, mosques and churches.
Throughout the world there have been mass demonstrations in solidarity with the people in Gaza and Lebanon. Within the region itself, the Axis of Resistance have engaged in military operations against the outposts within the Palestinian occupied territories and against commercial and military allies of Tel Aviv.
In response, the zionist military forces have carried out extensive aerial bombardments in Lebanon killing over 3,000 since last October. The U.S. has bombed areas in Yemen where ports along with urban areas have been targeted. There has been a sharp increase in the number of Pentagon forces in the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden waterways.
Role of the Arab and Muslim States
Consequently, the long-established organizations such as the Arab League and OIC are compelled to make public statements on the current situation. These gatherings reinforce what is regularly said within the halls of the United Nations General Assembly and its affiliates, the Non-aligned Movement (NAM), BRICS, among others.
Even within the imperialist states such as the U.S., Britain and the European Union (EU) countries there is growing support for the cause of the Palestinians. Demonstrations demanding the full disclosure and disinvestment from the zionist entity and those conducting business with the racist regime are involving millions of youths and workers.
The concluding declaration of the Arab League-OIC meeting encompassed 38 resolutions, two of which read:
“To start working to mobilize international support to suspend Israel’s participation in the United Nations General Assembly and all its affiliated entities, in preparation for submitting a joint draft resolution to the General Assembly – the tenth special session (Uniting for Peace), on the basis of its violations of the United Nations Charter, its threat to international peace and security, and its failure to fulfill its membership in the United Nations and based on the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice on July 19, 2024. To call on all countries to ban the export or transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel; urging countries to join the initiative proposed by the Republic of Turkey and the core group consisting of (18) countries, which was signed by (52) countries, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States, and to send a joint letter to the UN Security Council, the President of the UN General Assembly and the UN Secretary-General to halt the provision of arms to Israel, and to invite all countries to sign it.”
Host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman spoke to the summit condemning the actions of the Israeli state. His sentiments were echoed by Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, who emphasized that:
“Words cannot express the plight of the Palestinian people. The actions taken by Israel against the Palestinian people are undermining efforts to achieve lasting peace. It is only with justice that we will be able to establish lasting peace.”
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the gathering where he denounced the zionist aggression against Palestine, Lebanon and Iran. At the same time Sharif expressed his country’s unwavering support for the liberation of the Palestinian people.
Sharif pointed to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza emphasizing:
“The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has reached a level beyond imagination. For over one year, the occupied Palestinian territories, especially Gaza, have fallen in endless darkness and despair with devastated homes, lives lost and families torn apart. These atrocities committed against the Palestinians have rightfully been labelled as genocide, not only by the media but the International Court of Justice. With each passing day, every moral code is flagrantly violated by Israel. Yet the killing and destruction continue with no end in sight. I ask … how long will this annihilation be ignored?”
While the Arab and Islamic states met to decry the horrendous treatment of the Palestinians, no gathering of the Western governments has even criticized what Tel Aviv and its allies are doing let alone drafting a plan to reverse the genocidal reality. The U.S. and its allies have largely ignored the resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly which oppose the genocide and the ongoing occupation.
President Bashar al-Assad of the Syrian Arab Republic attended the extraordinary summit where he said that the primary issue for those at the gathering was the liberation of Palestine. He described those dominating the occupied Palestinian territories as “herds of settlers.”
After leaving the summit in Riyadh, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his government had broken all ties with the zionist regime:
“The government of the Republic of Turkey, under the leadership of Tayyip Erdogan, will not continue or develop relations with Israel. [Our ruling coalition] is resolute in its decision to cut ties with Israel, and we will maintain this stance in the future as well. We, as the Republic of Turkey and its government, have currently severed all relations with Israel.”
The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian was not able to attend the summit due to administrative duties although he spoke to the Saudi head-of-state prior to the beginning of the meeting saying,
“I have no doubt that this summit will have effective and tangible results leading to the cessation of the Zionist regime’s crimes and the war and bloodshed in Gaza and Lebanon.”
Iranian media sources say that this extraordinary joint summit was held at the suggestion of Tehran as the situation in the West Asia region has worsened. Iran has been a major target of the zionists and imperialists as a result of its stance on the liberation of Palestine and solidarity with the resistance forces throughout the region.
Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Major General Qasem Soleimani at the Baghdad, Iraq International Airport on January 3, 2020. Soleimani was killed alongside the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Deputy Commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Both military leaders played a significant role in the eradication of ISIS as a fighting force in Iraq and Syria.
Trump during his first administration in 2017 imposed a Muslim ban on entry into the U.S. While campaigning for his reelection, Trump pledged to engage in the largest deportation campaign in the history of the country. These factors should clearly indicate to Muslims and Arabs in the U.S. and internationally that the second Trump administration will pose major challenges to their existence.
Arab and Muslim Countries Must Unite to Defeat the Intensification of Imperialist War
The U.S. is the major contributor and facilitator of the genocidal war against Palestine and Lebanon. Any effective strategy to provide solidarity to the Palestinians and other contiguous states will inevitably place people living in the 52 countries which signed the declaration at the joint summit in a direct confrontation with Washington and Wall Street.
Trump in his first administration moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in violation of international law. His regime sought to undermine the Palestine solidarity movement through the “Abraham Accords” where regional states were encouraged to “normalize” relations with the zionist state.
Since the Al Aqsa Flood, the plans aimed at normalization with Tel Aviv have faded amid rising demonstrations and resistance activity. Nonetheless, both imperialist-dominated political parties in the U.S. are firmly committed to the maintenance of the settler-colonial regime occupying Palestine. Until the U.S. power structure is transformed into a genuinely democratic state, the military funding of the genocidal entity will continue resulting in further humanitarian crises, deaths, injuries and displacements.
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