Leaders from Arab and Muslim countries will gather in a show of unity in Doha on Monday, a week after Israel’s unprecedented strike on Hamas in Qatar prompted widespread anger.
The joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation emergency summit seeks to pile pressure on Israel, which has been facing mounting calls to end the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Hamas says top officials survived last week’s air strike in an upmarket Doha neighbourhood that killed six people and triggered a wave of criticism, including from US President Donald Trump.
“The time has come for the international community to stop using double standards and to punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed,” Qatari premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told a preparatory meeting at the weekend, adding Israel’s “war of extermination” in Gaza would not succeed.
A draft final statement seen by AFP warned that “brutal Israeli aggression” put efforts to normalise relations between Israel and Arab states at risk.
Israel and its main backer the United States have been trying to extend the Abraham Accords that established ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco in 2020.
Last week’s attack and Israel’s “genocide (and) ethnic cleansing… undermines the prospects of achieving peace and peaceful coexistence in the region”, the draft statement said.
It “threatens all that has been achieved on the path toward establishing normal relations with Israel, including existing and future agreements”, the draft added.
– ‘Actions, not just rhetoric’ –
The nearly 60-country grouping will also emphasise “the concept of collective security… as well as the necessity of aligning together to face common challenges and threats”, according to the draft.
Among the leaders gathering on Monday are Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will also attend.
A Saudi diplomatic source, who did not want to be named, told AFP that an extraordinary meeting of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council would also be held in Doha on Monday.
Meanwhile US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is visiting Israel in a pointed demonstration of Washington’s unwavering support.
Rubio, a devout Catholic, donned a kippa and offered prayers at Jerusalem’s Western Wall alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.
Aziz Algashian, a Saudi-based researcher into international relations in the Middle East, said “many people are looking at actions, not just rhetoric” from the meeting in Doha.
“We’ve exhausted all forms of rhetoric. Now it’s just going to have to be actions — and we’ll see what those actions will be,” he said.
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