LONDON, Wednesday, November 22, 2023 (WAFA) – After visiting China and Russia and meeting their foreign ministers, the Arab Islamic Ministerial Committee, headed by Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, traveled to the United Kingdom where it held an official meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.
In addition to the Saudi foreign minister, the committee members include Foreign Minister Riyad Malki, Jordan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Togar, and the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
The meeting welcomed the joint mediation efforts undertaken by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, which led to an agreement on a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, whose starting time will be later announced and which will continue for four days, subject to extension. It emphasized the need to build on this humanitarian truce to reach a durable and sustained ceasefire as soon as possible.
The Ministerial Committee underscored the need for members of the Security Council and for the international community to take effective and urgent measures for a complete ceasefire in Gaza, being a priority for all Arab and Islamic countries.
The Ministerial Committee called on Britain to play a balanced role consistent with international law and international humanitarian law, in order to reach an immediate ceasefire and implement all relevant international resolutions.
The meeting addressed the need to revive the peace process. In this regard, the Committee highlighted the importance of ensuring a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace, by implementing international resolutions related to the two-state solution and enabling the Palestinian people to gain their legitimate right to establish the independent and sovereign Palestinian State along the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The meeting discussed the need to provide secure corridors for the delivery of humanitarian aid, food, water, fuel, and electricity to Gaza, in addition to allowing international organizations to carry out their tasks in the Gaza Strip and its surroundings.
The Ministerial Committee urged the international community to fulfill its responsibility and reject all forms of selectivity in the application of international legal and moral standards, and not to turn a blind eye to the heinous crimes committed by the occupation forces and settler militias against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
M.K.
