Palestine is the first issue of Arabs and Muslims, GCC tells Blinken

Gulf Today Report

The foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council sent a joint letter to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, on Saturday, condemning the statements of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich about removing the town of Huwara from the map and denying the existence of the Palestinian people.

The Secretary of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jassim Mohammed Al Badawi, confirmed that the letter addressed to Blinken embodies the position of the leaders of the GCC states regarding the issue of Palestine, stressing that the issue of Palestine is “the first issue of Arabs and Muslims.”

Al-Budaiwi affirmed what was stated in the final statement of the 155th session of the Ministerial Council of the Cooperation Council, which was held on March 22, 2023, regarding the Cooperation Council’s support for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over all Palestinian territories occupied since June 1967, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the guarantee of all legitimate rights to the brotherly Palestinian people, and the rejection of settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He said, “The letter included praise for the American position rejecting these statements, and their call for the United States of America to assume its responsibilities in responding to all measures and statements targeting the Palestinian people, and also urged the American administration to play its role in reaching a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the conflict, based on principles of International law and the Arab Peace Initiative, including the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to establish an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The Secretary-General stressed the GCC's condemnation of the escalating Israeli statements and violations against the Palestinian people, including the crimes committed recently in the city and camp of Jenin, and in the towns of Huwara, Burin, Asira Al-Qibliya and others, which claimed the lives of many victims and dozens of wounded, demolished homes and destroyed property, and violated sanctity of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.