GCC's Ministerial Council issues statement
In light of the military escalation and developments taking place in the Middle East, the Ministerial Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) held its forty-fourth extraordinary meeting at the headquarters of the Qatari Embassy in Tashkent.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the joint ministerial meeting between the GCC and Central Asian countries.
The meeting was chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the State of Qatar, Chairman of the current session of the Ministerial Council, with the participation of: Suhail Mohamed Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy of the United Arab Emirates; Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain; Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, Oman's Foreign Minister; Abdullah Ali Al Yahya, Kuwait's Foreign Minister; and Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi, Secretary General of the GCC.
The Ministers discussed coordination mechanisms between the GCC states and joint action to confront these developments. The following statement was adopted:
1. The Ministerial Council expressed its deep concern over the recent very dangerous developments of military escalation in the Middle East and their negative impact on regional security and stability, stressing the importance of reducing the escalation immediately to maintain the security and stability of the region and the need for all parties to make joint efforts and take the approach of diplomacy as an effective way to resolve conflicts, exercising the utmost levels of self-restraint and sparing the region and its people the dangers of war.
2. The Ministerial Council called on the United Nations Security Council to fulfil its responsibility towards maintaining international peace and security especially in this region which is extremely sensitive to global peace and security and to prevent the escalation of the crisis that will have serious consequences.
3. The Ministerial Council affirmed the position of the GCC regarding the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, demanding an immediate ceasefire of Israeli military operations, ensuring the provision of access to all humanitarian aid, electricity and water supplies and allowing the entry of fuel, food and medicine for the residents of Gaza. The Council stressed the need for the international community to adopt effective policies and measures to reach an immediate ceasefire given the repercussions of the continued aggression on the security and stability of the entire region.
4. The Ministerial Council called for a stop to the escalation and acts of violence against the Palestinians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the city of Jerusalem and the Islamic holy sites and to stop settlement and land confiscation and attempts to displace the Palestinians from their lands.
5. The Ministerial Council called for an international conference in which all concerned parties participate to reach a solution to the Palestinian issue based on ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.
This is an unofficial English version of an Arabic report. To view the official Arabic text, click here.