NEW DELHI
Arab nations expect India to play an important role in sustaining peace and stability in the world, a senior Arab diplomat said here on Tuesday.
Speaking at an unprecedented event to show solidarity with the Palestinian cause which was attended by all Arab envoys based in India, the ambassador of Saudi Arabia Saleh bin Eid Al- Husseini hinted at ongoing consultations with India and strongly urged a “permanent ceasefire” in Gaza Strip.
Stop the war
The event was held to mark International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People which is observed annually on November 29. On November 11, Saudi Arabia hosted an extraordinary joint Arab Islamic summit which called on all countries to stop exporting weapons and ammunition to Israel and called for ending the siege of the Gaza Strip that has been in place for seventeen years. A joint statement issued after the Riyadh summit, directed the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia along with the Foreign Ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria and Palestine to initiate “international action” to stop the war on Gaza and launch serious political negotiations for establishment of the Palestinian state.
Subsequently, Arab-Islamic Foreign Ministers have visited multiple capitals. “The tour is still ongoing. They started with Kyiv, Moscow, London, and Paris. They also visited Spain. India is an important country and we are expecting India to play a major role in supporting peace and stability in the global system. India has the presidency of the G20. India has a history of supporting peace and stability of the global system,” said Ambassador Al-Husseini of Saudi Arabia.
He further said, “We held the Arab-Islamic summit in Riyadh earlier this month, which passed several resolutions. The summit formed a delegation tasked with outreach to important world capitals to explain the need for peace and the need for a ceasefire. Because without a ceasefire and without support for that ceasefire, - it will mean more killing. That’s why there is a critical need in the Middle-East for an urgent ceasefire.”
6,000 missing
The meeting was also addressed by Ambassador of Palestine Adnan Abu Al-Haija who spoke passionately about the condition of people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Ambassador Al-Haija accused the Israeli authorities of carrying out a series of anti-Palestinian measures in the months prior to the beginning of the conflict on October 7. Among the incidents that triggered the conflict, Mr Al-Haija counted the entry of Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir into the Al Aqsa mosque in Old Jerusalem on May 21.
“Seventh of October was the reaction to the brutal Israeli aggression against our Palestinian people, especially our people in the Gaza Strip who have been living for seventeen years in an open prison and in disastrous conditions of poverty.”
The envoy said, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed 14,128 Palestinians and wounded more than 33,000 people. He said at least six thousand Palestinians are missing and are believed to be under the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli bombings.
