Kuwait stands with Palestinians, world must react: Crown Prince

RIYADH: Representative of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, said that Kuwait stood in solidarity with the Palestinians, namely the people of the Gaza Strip, who are suffering from a brutal assault from the Zionist occupation. Delivering a speech at the GCC-ASEAN Summit …

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RIYADH: Representative of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, said that Kuwait stood in solidarity with the Palestinians, namely the people of the Gaza Strip, who are suffering from a brutal assault from the Zionist occupation. Delivering a speech at the GCC-ASEAN Summit held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, His Highness Sheikh Mishal added that the international community must take responsibility and protect the Palestinians from the recent bout of Zionist aggression.

Issue with Iraq

His Highness also highlighted the Khor Abdullah issue with Iraq, saying that the Iraqi government must take urgent and necessary steps to handle the recent Federal Supreme Court decision on maritime navigation in the waterway in line with the principles of good neighborliness. In regards to the GCC-ASEAN summit, His Highness Sheikh Mishal hoped that the international meeting would come out with decisions bolstering cooperation between the members of the two organizations.

He commended the efforts exerted in holding the summit, and also lauded the AEASN stance towards issues pertaining to the region as well as the Arab and Islamic worlds. Earlier today, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman opened the GCC-ASEAN summit aimed at boosting cooperation between the two entities.

GCC-ASEAN summit

Meanwhile, Gulf and Southeast Asian leaders have condemned attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip and called for a permanent ceasefire, according to a statement published after a summit meeting. The six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) also called for the release of some 200 hostages held by Hamas militants, as well as the restoration of basic services for Palestinians and the delivery of humanitarian aid, the statement said.

Zionist entity has vowed to destroy Hamas after the Islamist militant group launched an unprecedented raid from the Gaza Strip into southern Zionist entity on October 7, killing at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated or burned to death, according to Zionist officials. Hamas gunmen also kidnapped nearly 200 hostages including foreigners from around two dozen countries ranging from Paraguay to Tanzania. The army said that most of those being held “are alive”. In response, war planes have leveled entire city blocks in Gaza in preparation for a ground invasion.

More than 3,785 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died in the bombing, according to the latest toll from the Hamas-run health ministry. “As we gather, we are saddened by the escalating violence that Gaza is witnessing today, the price of which is being paid by innocent civilians,” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said as he opened the summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh. “We affirm our categorical rejection of targeting civilians in any way and under any pretext, and the importance of adhering to international humanitarian law and the necessity of stopping military operations against civilians and infrastructure that affect their daily lives.”

Saudi Arabia, guardian of the holiest sites in Islam, has never recognized Zionist entity and has paused discussions about taking that step in response to the Zionist-Hamas war. Two other GCC members, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, established ties with Zionist entity as part of the Abraham Accords of 2020, but have issued statements criticizing Zionists in recent days. ASEAN is currently headed by Indonesia which also does not have ties with Zionist entity.

“The violence must stop, humanity must be the priority in this moment, and we must prevent things from getting worse,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in Riyadh. “We must not forget that the root cause of the problem is the occupation of the Palestinian territories, and this is what must be resolved based on the agreed international parameters.”

The summit came on the heels of solidarity visits to Zionist entity by Western leaders including US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Nasser Al-Masri, a Kuwaiti analyst who attended the summit, said those stops risked fuelling more violence by emboldening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden and Sunak “added more flames, they did not come with solutions”, Masri said. “Those guys can bring a solution, they can stop Zionists… They can add protection to the Palestinians.”- AFP

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