CAIRO: The Arab League said Monday it will convene an urgent virtual meeting this week to discuss how to galvanize opposition to Israeli plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
The extraordinary meeting — scheduled for Thursday at the request of the Palestinian leadership — will bring together Arab foreign ministers via video conference, rather than a face-to-face meeting, due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
The Arab League’s deputy secretary Hossam Zaki said the ministers will “discuss in their virtual meeting providing political, legal and financial support to the Palestinian leadership to confront the Israeli plans.”
It comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political rival Benny Gantz signed a deal for a unity government that could accelerate the premier’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank in the coming months.
Those Israeli plans — while subject to caveats, including the need to maintain “regional stability” and uphold the peace agreement with Jordan — have drawn wide criticism including from the United Nations and the European Union.
Arab League chief Ahmed Ahmed Aboul Gheit had last week sent a message to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warning against Israel’s plans saying they risk “igniting tension in the region.”
He also accused Israel of “exploiting the world’s preoccupation with the novel coronavirus to impose a new reality on the ground.”
Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War and has since extended its control by expanding its settlements there.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a decision regarding the annexation of West Bank territories was up to Israel’s new unity government.
Earlier this year, the US unveiled a controversial Middle East peace plan that would allow Israel to retain control of the contested city of Jerusalem as its “undivided capital” and annex Jewish settlements on Palestinian lands including in the West Bank.
Arab states rejected Trump’s plan, saying it favored Israel and failed to grant Palestinians their minimum rights.
The Palestinians as well as the European Union have likewise criticized the plan, saying it effectively closes the door to a two-state solution in the Middle East.
Arab league to meet over Israel’s plans to annex West Bank
https://arab.news/v8g9j
Arab league to meet over Israel’s plans to annex West Bank
- Arab League chief Ahmed Ahmed Aboul Gheit had last week sent a message to UN Secretary General
- Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz signed a deal for a unity government that could accelerate the annexation of parts of the West Bank
Arab League chief ‘deeply concerned’ over Yemen tensions
- Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit calls for solidarity among Yemen’s supporters, condemns southern separatist’s military operations
LONDON: The head of the Arab League on Tuesday said he is deeply concerned over escalating tensions in Yemen and called for solidarity among countries supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
His comments came after the military coalition that backs Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council carried out a “limited airstrike” targeting weapons and military vehicles it said were destined for southern separatist forces.
The shipments arrived in the Yemeni port of Mukalla on board two vessels from Fujairah in the UAE.
Saudi Arabia, a key member of the military coalition, criticized the UAE over its support for the separatists, known as the Southern Transitional Council.
The Kingdom said that any threat to its national security was a red line and that the UAE should follow the Yemeni government’s request to remove its forces from the country within 24 hours.
The UAE later announced it would withdraw its remaining counter-terrorism units from Yemen.
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit expressed deep concern over the “serious and rapidly unfolding developments in Yemen.”
He called for solidarity among all countries supporting the Yemeni government and to exercise restraint.
He also condemned any military action aimed at “forcibly entrenching a secessionist reality on the ground, in a manner that threatens Yemen’s territorial unity.”
The STC, which wants a separate state in southern Yemen, seized large areas of territory in Hadramout and Al-Mahara provinces in recent weeks.
The STC is meant to be part of a coalition with the Yemeni government opposed to Houthi militants that control the north of the country.
Aboul Gheit said the southern Yemen issue must be addressed through dialogue.
The measures taken by Saudi Arabia and the military coalition were “vital to ensuring peace, security, and the unity of the Yemeni people under their internationally recognized leadership,” said Muslim World League Secretary-General Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa.
“Supporting illegitimate practices only deepens internal divisions and serves those who do not have Yemen’s best interests at heart,” he said.
