The Foreign Ministers of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) have sent a joint message to Secretary of State of the United States of America Antony Blinken, condemning the statements by Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich in which he called for the removal of the Palestinian town of Huwara from existence, and denied the existence of the Palestinian people.
GCC Secretary-General Jassim Mohammed Al Budaiwi stated that the message embodies the position of the leaders of the GCC countries regarding the cause of Palestine as it is the first cause of Arabs and Muslims, stressing what was stated in the closing statement of the 155th session of the GCC Ministerial Council that was held on March 22, 2023, regarding the GCC's support for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over all the Palestinian territories occupied since June 1967, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, guaranteeing all the legitimate rights of the brotherly Palestinian people, and rejecting settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories.
He said that the message praised the US position rejecting these statements, and called on the US to assume its responsibilities by responding to all measures and statements targeting the Palestinian people, and also urged the US administration to play its role in reaching a just, comprehensive and lasting solution to the conflict based on the 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 of Jenin and the camp of Jenin and in the villages of Huwara, Burin, Asira al-Qibliya, and others that claimed the lives of a number of people and wounded dozens others, the demolition of homes and the destruction of property, and the violation of sanctity of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, targeting the Palestinian presence in the city of Jerusalem, and attempting to change its legal character, demographic composition, and arrangements for Islamic holy places.
