At the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Türkiye, Arab leadership issued a renewed rejection of any attempt to forcibly displace the population of Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire in the region.
A series of statements were released by the foreign ministry’s of several prominent Muslim-majority Arab countries as a meeting of the Arab-Islamic committee on Gaza was held on the sidelines of the Diplomacy Forum.
The Saudi Foreign Ministry in a statement said the meeting included the country’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
The meeting addressed “developments in Gaza, intensifying joint efforts to confront all Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law, as well as serious violations against the Palestinian people, and rejecting all attempts of displacement, including those created by policies that make life unbearable for the Palestinian people as an attempt at forced displacement.”
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry separately said in a statement that the meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
Cairo presented “efforts aimed at the immediate full implementation of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Jan. 19.”
The meeting also emphasised the need to move to the second phase of the agreement, which includes the release of hostages and prisoners, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to the Egyptian statement.
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Abdelatty reiterated Egypt’s firm rejection of any attempts to alter Gaza’s demographic reality through displacement proposals and the resettlement of the Palestinian people outside of Palestinian territories.
He stressed that “such actions constitute a blatant violation of international humanitarian law, undermine peace efforts, and threaten regional peace and security.”
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement, saying Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi participated in the meeting.
The committee comprises foreign ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Türkiye, Indonesia, Nigeria, Palestine, and the UAE, along with the secretaries-general of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and representatives from Spain, Slovenia, Norway, the European Union, Russia, China, the UK, and France.
On the same day, Türkiye’s foreign minister on Friday underlined the urgent need for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, stressing that no plan forcing the Palestinians to leave their homeland is at all acceptable.
“We reject any plan that forces Palestinians to abandon their homeland,” Hakan Fidan said after a meeting of the Gaza Contact Group in the southern Turkish city of Antalya under the title: Two-State Solution and Lasting Peace in the Middle East.
Fidan said the discussions included foreign ministers from Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, and Indonesia, as well as the secretaries-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League.
Representatives from the United Arab Emirates, China, Russia, Ireland, Spain, Norway, Slovenia, Nigeria, and the EU also took part.
