Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi
The cowardly Israeli act of treachery marked a critical turning point, sounding the alarm over the escalating Zionist extremism. Just as the citizens and residents of my country, along with the international community, were shocked by this brutal aggression, the Arab and Islamic worlds also felt the grave danger of this barbaric assault, which represents nothing but state terrorism by a rogue power and a blatant, dangerous violation of the sovereignty of the State of Qatar, a member of the United Nations.
The entire world recognises the immense efforts that my country, Qatar, has exerted over the past two years, in cooperation with Egypt, to reach a settlement and halt the massacres and genocidal war waged by Israel’s war machine against steadfast Gaza.
Israeli madness has left the world perplexed and questioning. Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani expressed this in his speech at the extraordinary Arab-Islamic summit held yesterday in Doha, attended by nearly 50 heads of state and delegations of the Islamic world. His Highness said: "If Israel seeks to assassinate the political leadership of Hamas, then why does it negotiate with them? And if it wishes to negotiate for the release of hostages, why does it assassinate everyone capable of conducting such negotiations? And how are we to receive Israeli delegations in our country for talks, when those who send them are planning to bomb this very country?"
The diplomatic power employed by Qatar, which has succeeded in convening a summit of this magnitude in such a short time, with a large turnout and high-level representation, is itself the best response to the sceptics and the clearest proof of the great stature my country enjoys within both the Islamic and international communities.
The undeniable truth before this emergency summit is that Israel constitutes a threat to regional peace and security. The message the summit conveys is that aggression against any Arab or Muslim state is aggression against them all, and that the peoples of this entire region are determined to put an end to Israel’s treacherous, cowardly, and barbaric aggression.
Another message is that the countries and peoples of the region reject being forced by Israel to accept a new reality through its repeated assaults, carried out in pursuit of the extremist Zionist dream of establishing what is called “Greater Israel.”
This summit has revived the prospects of joint Arab and Islamic action and created a favourable climate for diplomatic and political work at the level of the United Nations General Assembly, whose meetings will be held in the coming days in New York, to put an end to Israel’s arrogance and its legal and moral violations. For this reason, the emergency summit called upon the member states of the OIC to reconsider the compatibility of Israel’s UN membership with the UN Charter, given that Israel does not respect any international charters or treaties.
The outcomes of the summit affirmed absolute solidarity with the State of Qatar against this aggression, an aggression seen as an attack on all Arab and Islamic nations. The summit also commended Qatar’s stance and the measures it has taken against Israel, firmly rejected all attempts to justify this assault under any pretext, and completely and unequivocally rejected any future Israeli threats against Qatar or against any Arab or Muslim state.
