Jeddah, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan has emphasized the unanimous rejection of the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip by the Islamic countries. During his presidential address at the Extraordinary Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC-CFM) in Jeddah on Tuesday, Prince Faisal reiterated the urgent need to recognize the State of Palestine and endorse the two-state solution.
The OIC session has been convened to address the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The minister restated the OIC’s categorical opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians and stressed the crucial importance of facilitating the immediate and secure return of those displaced.
“Israeli plans to expand military operations towards Rafah will only bring more suffering to the unarmed civilians targeted in the Gaza Strip,” he said, as quoted by Saudi Gazette.
Prince Faisal, through Saudi Arabia’s direct bilateral contacts with numerous countries and its role within the ministerial committee formed by the extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic summit, called on the international community to fulfill its responsibilities. He urged the global community to intervene in stopping the war, preventing irresponsible escalation, protecting innocent civilians, and thwarting the forced displacement of civilians.
“We saw a positive development in the positions of some countries and an understanding of the scale of the disaster, and we saw an increase in the number of countries calling for an immediate ceasefire,” he said. “We also heard from a number of countries about their readiness in principle to recognize the State of Palestine.”
“In this regard, we direct our message to those countries that the time has come to make their decision to recognize the State of Palestine, and to continue pressure on Israel to stop the war in Gaza and accept the two-state solution,” Prince Faisal added.
He also highlighted the necessity of imposing sanctions against extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank and holding accountable those responsible for violence in the region. Additionally, he pledged support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and warned against attempts to undermine its humanitarian role.
Calling for the reversal of decisions by countries that suspended their support for UNRWA, Prince Faisal stressed the importance of the agency continuing its tasks to alleviate the humanitarian crisis faced by Palestinian refugees in Gaza. He renewed the call for ending the suffering of the Palestinian people and providing hope, emphasizing the establishment of their state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant international resolutions.