Israel’s latest renewal of violence in Gaza has prompted condemnation from the Arab League [Getty/file photo]
Arab League leaders on Wednesday called for an end to military and economic cooperation with Israel in response to its recent attacks on Gaza, which have killed more than 500 Palestinians since Tuesday.
The League said it will actively call on member states to take steps to gradually reduce military cooperation with Israel, and encouraged an economic boycott, saying continued trade and military dealings would constitute complicity in Israel’s onslaught of Gaza.
It also emphasised the need to strengthen Arab solidarity and take concrete measures to protect Palestinian rights.
Several Arab countries have established economic and military ties with Israel following the controversial, US-brokered Abraham Accords which saw several nations normalising relations with the country in 2020.
The UAE, for example, has signed an array economic, cultural and investment deals with Israel, but the number of such deals have reduced following the onset of the war in Gaza. An Israeli embassy has opened in the UAE in 2021, and hundreds of Israelis have relocated to the Gulf country since.
Morocco also has signed several trade, arms and education deals over the past four and half years, including with Israeli arms company Elbit Systems. In 2021, Bahrain and Israel held joint military drills.
A recent opinion poll in the West Bank and Gaza found that the vast majority of Palestinians believed that Arab states were not doing enough to help the people of Gaza.
Opinion polls have also found that Arab normalisation of ties with Israel is deeply unpopular throughout the region. Palestinian decried the move as a stab back to their national cause after decades of Israeli occupation and brutality.
In their meeting, Arab nations said they will be pushing for political and financial support for their Gaza Strip reconstruction plan, put forward as a means to counter US President Donald Trump’s proposal for the enclave.
The controversial plan would see Palestinians forcibly displaced from their land and a subsequent US “takeover” to turn it to the “Riviera of the Middle East,” as per the US President.
The League also urged international and regional financial institutions to aid the project, which is estimated to cost $53 billion.
The Arab League also condemned Israel’s renewed aggression against the Gaza Strip, which effectively ending the ceasefire in the enclave. At least 85 people were killed on Thursday, with the overall death toll standing at 506 – which is expected to increase.
The attacks also coincide with the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which Palestinian Muslims are now forced to mark amid brutal Israeli bombardment.
“[Israel’s] resumption of this crime during the holy month of Ramadan, the month of mercy and forgiveness and the holiest month for Arabs and Muslims, constitutes a flagrant violation of human rights and divine laws, and an insult to the feelings of the Arab and Islamic worlds,” the League said in a statement.
It also denounced Israel’s continued raids in the West Bank, which have displaced hundreds of Palestinians, and where dozens of homes have deliberately demolished.
The meeting urged the lifting of the Israeli-imposed siege which has prevented the entry of food, medicine and other necessary relief into the enclave since the beginning of the month and demanded that the US pressures Israel into moving onto the remaining phases of the ceasefire – which would ultimately result in the end of the war.
The Arab League has held several meetings since Israel’s onslaught in Gaza began on 7, October 2023, verbally condemning the Israeli campaign but offering little practical action.
Its plan for Gaza, spearheaded by Egypt, was rejected by the US earlier this month, saying it didn’t “meet Trump’s expectations”.
