Arab, Islamic top diplomats meet with French President over war on Gaza

AMMAN — The ministerial committee formed by the Joint Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh held on Wednesday an official meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.

At the meeting, the participants welcomed joint mediation efforts, resulting in a humanitarian ceasefire agreement in Gaza, to be announced within 24 hours and lasting for four days, extendable, and also emphasised the importance of building on the humanitarian ceasefire for a complete and sustainable cessation of hostilities.

The committee stressed the importance of urgent and effective actions by the UN Security Council and the international community to achieve a complete cessation of firing in Gaza. Members also highlighted the need to secure safe passages for humanitarian aid to Gaza and called on France to play a balanced role consistent with international law and humanitarian law.

Furthermore, the committee urged the international community to reject any selectivity in applying international legal and ethical standards, protecting the Palestinian people from crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces and settler militias in Gaza and occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

The meeting addressed the necessity of reviving the peace process, as members of the committee emphasised the importance of ensuring a just, permanent, and comprehensive peace through the implementation of international resolutions related to the two-state solution and enabling the Palestinian people to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the lines of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the foreign ministers of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Palestine and Indonesia met with UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Cameron and Lord Tariq Ahmad, minister of state for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, over efforts to impose an "effective and immediate" ceasefire in Gaza and ensure the delivery of relief aid into the strip. 

Participants attending the meeting also welcomed the four-day humanitarian pause in Gaza, stressing that these efforts should be utilised as a foundation for full and lasting ceasefire. 

During the meeting, the delegation called on the UK to adopt a "balanced role" in line with international law and international humanitarian law, to impose a ceasefire and apply all relevant UN resolutions, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The delegation also discussed efforts to revive the peace process based on the two-state solution that can lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the lines of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital.  

The top diplomats also discussed efforts to open humanitarian corridors to deliver humanitarian assistance, water, electricity and fuel to Gaza in addition to allowing international organisations to operate in the war-torn coastal enclave.

Members of the ministerial committee, formed by the Joint Arab and Islamic Summit in Riyadh, called on the international community to reject what they described as "selectivity" and prejudice when it comes to applying international law and moral standards and hold Israel accountable for its "heinous crimes against unarmed civilians".