Doha: Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani warned towards Israel’s expansionist ambitions within the Arab world throughout an emergency Arab-Islamic summit, lambasting final week’s lethal airstrike on Doha as “blatant, treacherous and cowardly”.
“My nation’s capital was subjected to a treacherous assault concentrating on a residence housing the households of Hamas leaders and their negotiating delegation,” the emir mentioned in his opening speech on the summit convened by the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
“Our residents had been stunned, and all the world was shocked by the aggression and cowardly terrorist act,” he added, referring to the September 9 assault that killed six folks.
“We’re decided to do no matter is important to protect our sovereignty and confront Israeli aggression,” he mentioned.
The airstrike focused senior Hamas leaders who had been in Doha to debate a US-backed proposal for a Gaza ceasefire. An in depth US ally and host to the biggest American army base within the area, Doha has labelled the strike “state terrorism”. Hamas officers confirmed that their high management survived the assassination try.
The emir mentioned Israel’s actions reveal an absence of real curiosity in peace. “Anybody who persistently and systematically targets a negotiating celebration is working to thwart the negotiations,” he mentioned, warning that the Israeli assault was designed to undermine talks geared toward ending the Gaza battle, which has killed greater than 64,800 Palestinians.
“The Israeli struggle on Gaza has became a struggle of extermination,” he mentioned, including, “Israel desires to make Gaza uninhabitable as a prelude to displacing its inhabitants.”
The summit expressed solidarity for Qatar and condemned Tel Aviv Israel over the assault, which members say undermines safety and stability within the area.
The Arab Peace Initiative
Qatar has been central to oblique negotiations between Israel and Hamas since Israel’s October 2023 army offensive in Gaza. Israeli actions within the strip have been known as genocide by a number of rights organisations, together with the Worldwide Affiliation of Genocide Students.
United Nations Safety Council members, together with the US, condemned Israel’s assault on Doha.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani mentioned Doha wouldn’t tolerate additional breaches of its sovereignty. “Israel is undermining the soundness of the area impetuously,” he warned.
Regardless of assurances from US President Donald Trump that “such a factor won’t occur once more on their soil”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to focus on Hamas leaders once more if Qatar doesn’t expel them, stating in a gathering with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Israel will strike Hamas “wherever they’re”.
Rubio is about to go to Doha on Tuesday.
Sheikh Tamim described Netanyahu’s imaginative and prescient as a harmful dream to show the Arab area into “an Israeli sphere of affect” and criticised Tel Aviv’s rejection of the Arab Peace Initiative for perpetuating cycles of violence.
First endorsed by the Arab League in 2002 and reaffirmed in 2007 and 2017, the initiative provided Israel full normalisation of relations with Arab states in return for full withdrawal from occupied territories, together with the West Financial institution, Gaza, the Golan Heights and southern Lebanon.
Sheikh Tamim mentioned, “If Israel had accepted the Arab Peace Initiative, it will have spared all the area numerous tragedies.”
GCC Pledges To ‘Activate Joint Defence Mechanisms’
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which incorporates Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, pledged to “activate joint defence mechanisms” in response to the assault.
The GCC’s Supreme Council condemned Israel “within the strongest phrases” and affirmed “full solidarity of the GCC states with the State of Qatar in all measures it takes to confront this assault”.
Pressing consultations are underway amongst GCC army our bodies, with directions given to the Unified Army Command “to take the required govt measures to activate joint defence mechanisms and Gulf deterrent capabilities”.
The Arab-Islamic emergency summit, attended by leaders from the 57-member OIC and the 22-member Arab League, issued a joint assertion declaring that Israel’s “brutal aggression undermines any prospects for peace within the area”.
The summit expressed assist for mediation efforts by Qatar, Egypt and the US, whereas rejecting Israel’s “repeated threats” to focus on Qatar once more.
The summit pressed for worldwide accountability, calling on the worldwide neighborhood to halt Israeli assaults and urging OIC member states to evaluate Israel’s compatibility with UN Constitution obligations, citing repeated violations and disrespect for UN resolutions.