Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh issues 38-point declaration on Gaza crisis and Palestinian rights

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ISLAMABAD, NOV 12 /DNA/ – We, leaders of the states and governments of the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, gathered on the kind invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and under the chairmanship of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, and based on our decision to merge the extraordinary Arab and Islamic summits that the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation had decided to organize at the request of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to discuss the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people on 11 November 2023,meet today in the city of Riyadh in response to the escalating events, and after consultations conducted by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the request of the State of Palestine and some other Member States, and with the kind hosting of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;


While we affirm the centrality of the Palestinian cause and the firm support for the Palestinian people to achieve their legitimate and inalienable national rights, foremost among which is their right to freedom and to an independent, sovereign state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Al-Quds as its capital, and the right of refugees to return and to compensation in accordance with the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy, particularly Resolution 194, and confront any attempts to deny or undermine these rights; reaffirming that the Palestinian cause is like all just causes of peoples struggling to get rid of occupation and obtain their rights, While we reaffirm the full sovereignty of the State of Palestine over occupied East Al-Quds, the eternal capital of Palestine, and reject any Israeli decisions or measures aimed at Judaizing it and consolidating its colonial occupation of the city, considering such decisions and measures null, void and illegitimate under international law and relevant United Nations’ resolutions, considering Al-Quds Al-Sharif a red line for the Arab and Islamic nations, and reaffirming our absolute solidarity in protecting the Arab and Islamic identity of occupied East Al-Quds and in defending the sanctity of the holy Islamic and Christian sites therein, While we affirm our absolute support for the Lebanese Republic, its security, stability, sovereignty and the safety of its citizens,

Decide:


1- To affirm the resolutions issued by the First Extraordinary Joint Summit in the city of Riyadh in November 2023, to renew our strong countering of
the brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, and to work
to end its disastrous humanitarian repercussions on civilians, children,
women, elderly and unarmed civilians, to continue to act, in coordination
with the international community, in order to put an end to the serious
Israeli violations of international law and international humanitarian law,
and to Israel’s jeopardizing of regional and international peace and security, reaffirming the resolutions of the 33rd Arab Summit, held in the Kingdom of Bahrain in May 2024, and the 15th Islamic Summit, held in the Republic of Gambia in May 2024.


2- To warn of the danger of the escalation sweeping the region and its regional and international consequences, of the expansion of the aggression that has lasted over one year on the Gaza Strip, and extended to include Lebanon, and of the violation of the sovereignty of the Republic of Iraq, the Syrian Arab Republic and the Islamic Republic of Iran, without the international community’s concern.


3- To insist on the implementation of all relevant resolutions issued by the
United Nations’ General Assembly, including Resolution No. A/RES/ES-
10/22 on the protection of civilians and adherence to legal and
humanitarian obligations dated December 10, 2023, and the resolutions
issued by the Security Council, and the need for the Security Council to
adopt a binding resolution, under Chapter VII of the United Nations’
Charter, to compel Israel, the occupying power, to a ceasefire in the Gaza
Strip, to allow the entry of immediate and sufficient humanitarian aid to all
areas of the Strip, and to implement Security Council Resolutions 2735
(2024), 2728 (2024), 2720 (2023), and 2712 (2023), which call for taking
urgent steps to immediately allow the delivery of humanitarian aid in a
broad, safe and unhindered manner, and Resolution No. 2728, which calls
for a ceasefire, as well as the resolutions that affirm the right of the
Palestinian people to exercise their inalienable rights, including the right to
self-determination, national independence and the right of refugees to
return, and the resolutions that affirm the permanent responsibility of the
United Nations for the Palestinian issue until it is resolved in all its aspects;
and to call on the Security Council to follow up on the international
consensus expressed in the UNGA Resolution dated May 10, 2024 that the
State of Palestine is qualified for full membership in the United Nations,
calling to issue a resolution granting the State of Palestine full membership
in the United Nations, and to urge Member States to mobilize the necessary support to adopt the resolution.

4- To affirm support and express appreciation for the tireless efforts made by the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Qatar in cooperation with the United States of America to achieve an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages and prisoners, and holding Israel responsible for the failure of these efforts as a result of the Israeli government’s withdrawal from the agreements reached by the negotiators.


5- To call on the international community to fully implement the advisory
opinion of the International Court of Justice dated July 19, 2024 towards
ending the Israeli occupation, removing its effects, and paying
compensation for its damages, as soon as possible.


6- To condemn the crime of enforced disappearance committed by the Israeli occupation forces since the beginning of the current aggression against thousands of Palestinian citizens in the Gaza Strip and throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, including children, women and the elderly, in addition to the abuse, repression, torture and degrading treatment to which they are subjected, to call on the Member States of the United Nations to work at all levels to disclose the fate of the kidnapped, to work to release them immediately, to ensure the provision of their protection, and to demand an independent and transparent investigation into this crime, including the arbitrary execution of some of the kidnapped.


7- To condemn in the strongest terms what is unveiled of the horrific and
shocking crimes committed by the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza
Strip in the context of the crime of genocide, including mass graves, the
crime of torture, field executions, enforced disappearance, looting, and
ethnic cleansing, especially in the northern Gaza Strip during the past
weeks, and to call on the Security Council to form an independent and
credible international investigation committee to investigate these crimes,
and to take serious steps to prevent the obliteration of evidence and proof
to hold the perpetrators accountable and ensure that they do not escape
punishment.


8- To strongly condemn the continued and persistent Israeli aggression
against Lebanon and the violation of its sovereignty and of the sanctity of
its territories, to call for an immediate ceasefire, and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution No. 1701 (2006) in all
its provisions, and to insist on solidarity with the Lebanese Republic in
confronting this aggression; to strongly condemn the deliberate targeting
of the Lebanese army and its centers, which led to the fall of a number of
martyrs and wounded in its ranks, in addition to the killing of civilians,the
systematic destruction of residential areas, and the enforced disappearance of persons, as well as the targeting of the United Nations’ Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL); to insist on supporting the Lebanese constitutional institutions in exercising their authority and extending the sovereignty the Lebanese state over all its territories, and in this regard, to insist on supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces as the guarantor of Lebanon’s unity and stability, and on the importance of expediting the election of a president of the republic and the formation of a government based on the provisions of the Lebanese constitution and the implementation of the Taif Agreement.


9- To unequivocally condemn the deliberate attacks on UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon by Israel, which are direct violations of the UN Charter, and to
demand the United Nations Security Council to hold Israel accountable for
ensuring the safety and security of UN peacekeepers operating under the
banner of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).


10- To reject the enforced displacement of Palestinian citizens inside or outside their land, which is a war crime and a flagrant violation of international law that we should address together.


11- To condemn the policy of collective punishment perpetrated by Israel and the use of siege and starvation as a weapon against civilians in the Gaza Strip, to call on the international community to take immediate practical steps to end the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the aggression, including forcing Israel to completely withdraw from the Gaza Strip and to open all crossings between it and the Strip, and lifting all restrictions and obstacles to safe, rapid and unconditional humanitarian access to the Strip, in implementation of its obligations as the occupying power, and in the same context, to call for the immediate withdrawal of the Israeli occupation forces from the Rafah crossing and the Salaheddine Corridor (Philadelphi corridor), and for the Palestinian National Authority to return to manage the Rafah crossing, and to resume work on the 2005 Movement and AccessnAgreement, in a manner that allows the regular work of relief organizations and the resumption of the flow of aid in a safe and effective manner.


12- To insist on the need to join efforts to implement the outcomes of the
Emergency Humanitarian Response Conference in Gaza, hosted by the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, jointly organized with the Arab Republic
of Egypt and the United Nations on June 11, 2024, and to mobilize the
necessary support for the humanitarian conference that Cairo will host on
December 2, 2024, in the context of efforts to provide adequate
humanitarian support to the Strip.


13- To call on the international community to take effective action to compel Israel to adhere to international law, denouncing the double standards in the application of international law, international humanitarian law, and the United Nations’ Charter, and warning that this double standard seriously undermines the credibility of the states that immunize Israel and place it above accountability along with the credibility of multilateral action, and exposes the selectivity of the application of the system of human values.


14- To welcome resolution A/RES/ES-10/24 issued by the General Assembly on September 18, 2024, which adopted the outcomes of the legal advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the illegality of the Israeli occupation.


15- To call on all states of the world, their legislative bodies, and all
international institutions and organizations to abide by the resolutions of
international legitimacy regarding the city of Al-Quds and its legal and
historical status, as an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied in
1967.


16- To strongly condemn the aggressive Israeli measures targeting Islamic and Christian holy sites in the city of Al-Quds and changing its Arab, Islamic and Christian identity, to call on the international community to pressure Israel to stop them, and warn against the continuation of attacks on the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al-Haram Al-Sharif, including undermining the freedom of worship in the mosque, preventing worshipers from entering it, besides its desecration, storming, profanation and vandalism of its contents by groups of Israeli settlers, and the attempts aimed at changing the legal and historical status quo in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, dividing it temporally and spatially; and to stress that the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque/Al- Haram Al-Sharif, with its entire area of 144 thousand square meters, is a place of worship exclusively for Muslims, and that the Al-Quds Endowments and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Administration, affiliated with the Jordanian Ministry of Endowments, is the exclusive legitimate authority with jurisdiction to manage the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, to maintain it and regulate entry to it, within the framework of the historical Hashemite guardianship over the Islamic and Christian holy sites in occupied Al-Quds.


17- To call on the Security Council to adopt a resolution obligating Israel to
stop these illegal policies that threaten security and peace in the region, and to implement the relevant United Nations resolutions regarding the Holy City of Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and to condemn any party’s recognition of Al- Quds as the alleged capital of Israel, the occupying power, as an illegal and irresponsible measure that constitutes an attack on the historical, legal and national rights of the Palestinian people and the Islamic nation; to consider any step aimed at changing the legal status of the Holy City of Al-Quds Al- Sharif as an illegal step and a serious violation of international law and relevant United Nations resolutions that must be immediately revoked and reversed, to call on any state that has taken steps that affect the existing legal and historical status in the City of Al-Quds to reverse these illegal steps, and to stress the need to work to establish the inhabitants of Al-Quds on their land, including through supporting the Al-Quds Committee and its executive arm, the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency.


18- To start working to mobilize international support to suspend Israel’s
participation in the United Nations General Assembly and all its affiliated
entities, in preparation for submitting a joint draft resolution to the General
Assembly – the tenth special session (Uniting for Peace), on the basis of
its violations of the United Nations Charter, its threat to international peace
and security, and its failure to fulfill its membership in the United Nations
and based on the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of
Justice on July 19, 2024.


19- To call on all countries to ban the export or transfer of weapons and
ammunition to Israel; urging countries to join the initiative proposed by the
Republic of Turkey and the core group consisting of (18) countries, which
was signed by (52) countries, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and
the League of Arab States, and to send a joint letter to the UN Security
Council, the President of the UN General Assembly and the UN Secretary-
General to halt the provision of arms to Israel, and to invite all countries to
sign it.


20- To urge the International Criminal Court to expeditiously issue arrest
warrants against Israeli civilian and military officials for committing
crimes – falling within the jurisdiction of the Court – against the Palestinian
people.


21- To call on the Security Council and the international community to take the necessary decisions, including imposing sanctions, in order to stop the
escalating illegal Israeli measures in the occupied West Bank that
undermine the two-state solution and undermine all chances of achieving
a just and comprehensive peace in the region, to criminalize such policies,
to condemn colonial policies pursued by the occupying power to annex any
part of the occupied Palestinian territory by force with the aim of
expanding illegal settler colonialism, and to consider this a blatant and
systematic attack on the historical and legal rights of the Palestinian people and a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter, the principles of international law, and relevant United Nations resolutions.


22- To strongly condemn the terrorist acts committed by Israeli settlers against Palestinian citizens and their property, which are escalating in an organized manner with the support and armament of the Israeli occupation
government and the protection of its forces, and to call for:
– Holding settlers accountable for the crimes they are committing
against the Palestinian people and their property.
– Classifying Israeli settlers and Jewish settler movements as terrorist
groups and organizations, including them on national and
international terrorism lists, and working, at all levels, including in
the United Nations, and specifically the Security Council, to hold
Israeli leaders and settlers accountable for the crimes they commit.
– Boycotting products of Israeli settlements on the occupied
Palestinian territory, and the companies operating therein and
included in the database issued by the Human Rights’ Council on
6/30/2023, and forming Lists of Shame that include the names of
those companies considering that they feed the occupation and seek
to perpetuate it.
– Calling on all states of the world, including Member States, to
prevent settlers present in the occupied Palestinian territory,
including East Al-Quds, from entering them for any purpose that
may be, and establishing special mechanisms and measures to
examine identification documents to verify their places of residence
in cooperation with the State of Palestine, considering that as they
participate in terrorist hostilities against the Palestinian people, their
property and their lands.
– Calling on the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and
the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation,
in cooperation with the State of Palestine, to prepare a list of the
names of these groups and circulate it to Member States.


23- To call on the active international parties to launch a plan with specific
steps and timing under international sponsorship to end the occupation and establish an independent, sovereign Palestinian state on the lines of June  1967, with occupied Al-Quds as its capital, based on the two-state solution, and in accordance with the approved references and the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002.


24- To stress that a just and comprehensive peace in the region that guarantees security and stability for all its states cannot be achieved without ending the Israeli occupation of all occupied Arab territories up to the June 4, 1967 line, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative in all its components.


25- To commend the states that recognized the State of Palestine, calling on other states to follow suit, welcoming the “International Alliance to
Implement the Two-State Solution, ” launched by the Joint Arab-Islamic
Ministerial Committee, headed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in
coordination with Arab and Islamic states, and in cooperation with the
European Union and the Kingdom of Norway in September 2024 in New
York City, holding its first meeting in Riyadh, stressing the importance of
supporting it, and calling on all peace-loving states to join this alliance.

26- To work to mobilize international support for the State of Palestine to join the United Nations as a full member and support the appreciated and
continuous efforts made by the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria,
in its capacity as a member of the two organizations, in the Security
Council, to submit a draft resolution to accept this membership, in addition
to its efforts to support the cause and unity of the Palestinian ranks.


27- To condemn the actions and statements of extremist hatred and racism by ministers in the Israeli occupation government, and to demand from the international community to hold them accountable in accordance with the international law.


28- To condemn the continuous attacks by the Israeli occupation authorities and their representatives on the United Nations and its Secretary-General, as well as condemning the ban on the work of international mechanisms and organizations including UNSR and COIs, and on members of the Office of the High Commissioner (for Human Rights) preventing from entering the territory of the State of Palestine, and its termination of the work of the International Presence Mission in Al-Khalil, in clear violation of its obligations, as an occupying power, and of the relevant United Nations resolutions, and demanding that the international community assume its responsibilities in providing protection as stipulated in the United Nations resolutions, and in accordance with what was proposed by the report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in this regard.


29- To condemn the continued adoption and approval by the Israeli Knesset of racist and illegal laws, including the so-called law withdrawing the immunity granted to employees of the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), preventing it from working in
the occupied Palestinian territories and severing relations with it, and the
decision to reject the establishment of a Palestinian state; stressing that
these laws and decisions are null, void and illegal, and calling on the
Member States of the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel, the
occupying power,in order to force it to comply with the international law
and international legitimacy resolutions, and calling on all states to provide
effective political and financial support to the agency.


30- To call for providing all forms of political and diplomatic support and
international protection to the Palestinian people and to the State of
Palestine,forachieving Palestinian national unity, and for its effective
assumption of its responsibilities over all the occupied Palestinian territory,
including the Gaza Strip, unifying it with the West Bank, including the city
of Al-Quds, as well as supporting the State of Palestine economically by
supporting its efforts in humanitarian relief programs, economic recovery,
and reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, stressing the importance of
continuing to support the budget of the State of Palestine, activating a
transparent financial safety net according to agreed upon mechanisms, and requesting the international community to oblige the Israeli occupation
authority to release the withheld Palestinian tax revenues immediately and
in full.


31- To support the ongoing efforts made by the Arab Republic of Egypt to
achieve Palestinian unity at this critical stage, and enabling the Palestinian
government to carry out its responsibilities and duties towards the
Palestinian people, including through forming various mechanisms and
agencies and agreeing on a community support committee to be formed by a decree issued by the President of the State of Palestine, within the
framework of the political and geographical unity of the Palestinian land
on the lines of June 4, 1967, with East Al-Quds as its capital and the
sovereignty of the State of Palestine over it, and reaffirming that the
Palestine Liberation Organization is the sole legitimate representative of
the Palestinian people.


32- to call for continued provision of assistance and urgent humanitarian and relief support to the Lebanese government to confront the repercussions of the Israeli aggression, including confronting the crisis of the displaced until they can return to their regions and securing the elements of a decent life for them, with the necessity of implementing reforms that allow sisterly and friendly states of Lebanon to participate in supporting its economy to help the Lebanese people get out of the living crisis they are facing.


33- To strongly condemn the escalating brutal Israeli aggression on the
territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, including targeting civilians,
destroying civilian buildings and infrastructure, and violating its
sovereignty, which constitutes crimes and serious violations of
international law and relevant United Nations resolutions, and to stress the
need to end the Israeli occupation of the occupied Syrian Arab Golan.


34- To assign the Joint Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee, headed by the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and formed in accordance with the decision
issued by the First Joint Arab-Islamic Summit on November 11, 2023, to
continue its work, to intensify its efforts, and expand them to include
working on ending the aggression on Lebanon; the Committee shall submit
periodic reports, which the two secretariats shall circulate to the Member
States.

35- To mandate the Ministerial Committee to further engage other actors of the Global South in the efforts to strengthen international support towards ending the war and Israeli occupation.


36- To stress the need to protect navigation in sea lanes in line with the rules of international law.


37- To welcome the signing of the tripartite mechanism to support the
Palestinian cause by the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation, and the African Union in Riyadh, and commend the African
Union’s firm positions towards the Palestinian cause.


38- To assign the Secretaries-General of the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to coordinate follow-up on the
implementation of what is stated in the present resolution and the
submission of periodic reports to the leaders in this regard.