Introduction
Amidst a high sense of complacency among the Israeli policymakers that decades-old status quo in the Gaza Strip is in the best political and strategic interests of the country, Hamas’s October 7 terrorist attack in the southern Israel swiftly turned everything upside down. Though the October 7 attack was not the first attack from the Gaza Strip since whole of Jewish inhabitants of Gaza were resettled in the West Bank in 2005, but this one was of an unprecedented magnitude. The October 7 ‘Al-Aqsa Flood Operation’, as the attack was named by the Hamas, was the first warfare in fifty years when anti-Israel terrorist outfits intruded deep into the highly protected territories of Israel through ground, air and sea. Since its creation in 1948, Israel has not witnessed such huge casualties in one single day when a formidable nation like Israel was reported to have lost around 1200 people[i] including officers of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Hamas was also able to capture 237 Israelis as hostages of different nationalities like the US, Germany, Thailand and Australia.[ii] Soon after the attack, a state of emergency was declared in Israel. After the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Israel for the first time asked for direct military assistance from the US to confront the Hamas and its affiliates.
Many, including US Secretary of State, equated Hamas’s October 7 attack with 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.[iii] While Hamas itself claimed it ‘like 9/11’, which destroyed the myth of American invincibility, this attack too shattered the notion of invincibility of Israel.[iv]
The terrorist attack by Hamas was followed by global condemnation from across the continents and countries ranging from the US, Canada, Franc, Germany, Brazil, Kenya, Thailand and India. Soon the IDF launched a full-fledged operation, which until now has caused the death of more than 17,000 people in Gaza and have left around 40,000 inhabitants injured.[v] Amidst rising death toll in Gaza, the Arab-Islamic countries called for an immediate ceasefire but with no success. In order to calm street anger, Jordan recalled its Ambassador from Israel and soon Bahrain followed suit while Turkiye called its Ambassador back only after Israel did. Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, targeting Netanyahu, said that he was breaking ties with Israeli Prime Minister but not Turkiye’s relations with Israel.[vi] Saudi Arabia, which was almost on the verge of extending diplomatic recognition to Israel before October 7, announced to halt all future negotiations on possible normalization.[vii]
Cairo Peace Summit: A Prelude to Arab Islamic Summit
Amidst the rising death toll in Gaza, belligerent attitude of Israeli government, Egypt called a meeting of Arab-Islamic and Western leaders, officially named Cairo Peace Summit, on October 21, 2023, to deescalate the situation on the ground and discuss the future of Palestine.[viii] The Summit was attended by thirty-four countries along with the United Nations (UN) and other international bodies.[ix] Those who participated in the Summit include UN Secretary General, President of South Africa, Prime Minister of Spain, representatives of Italy and Iraq, [x] and Foreign Ministers of the UK, Germany, France and Japan. The meeting was also attended by Kings of Jordan and Bahrain, Emir of Qatar, Crown Prince of Kuwait, Vice President of the UAE, Head of the Palestinian Authority and Türkiye’s Foreign Minister.[xi] Russia and China sent their Deputy Foreign Minister and West Asia envoy respectively to attend the Summit.[xii] The Summit was however more in the nature of diplomatic endeavors. The representatives from the Western countries did not show showed urgency to halt the ongoing Israeli aggression.[xiii] Moreover, countries like Jordan and Egypt found it hard to withstand the US and Israeli pressure because of their over dependence on Western countries for economic aid and security. It is also worth mentioning here that Egypt took the lead on Gaza by hosting this Summit because of its traditional role as a mediator and arbitrator of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and Egypt could not have let other countries usurp its central role that would dim its geopolitical sway in the region. Moreover, Egypt has hosted this event keeping in view the upcoming presidential election, as President Al-Sisi is one of the contenders. He could not have ignored this opportunity to attract his voters by highlighting the issue of Gaza in face of current political and economic woes in the country which are causing disenchantment among the youth.
Two Summits under One Banner
Earlier two separate Summits of the 22-member Arab League (AL) and 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) were scheduled to be hosted by Saudi Arabia on November 11 and 12 respectively.
At the Arab League preliminary meet on November 10, 2023, Member-States countries failed to reach a consensus because of the differences on series of proposals. According to the media reports, some members in the AL proposed that the US should not be allowed to use military bases in Arab countries to supply arms to Israel and no Arab airspace should be allowed for Israeli aviation services. There were suggestions that the Arab states should freeze its ties with Israel, and put oil embargo on Israel. Algeria urged the Arab countries to close down the US military bases in the region. But countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Morocco and Bahrain preferred ambiguity and non-committal recommendations, while countries such as Iraq, Oman, Syria, Tunisia, Kuwait, Libya and Yemen were in favor of including these suggestions.[xiv]
In order to prevent any further divide among larger Arab and Islamic countries, Saudi Arabia, as the current President of both the AL and the OIC, with the consultation of the AL and OIC countries, announced the merger of both the proposed separate meetings into one,[xv] and subsequently a unified 57-member Arab-Islamic Summit was held on November 11, 2023, in Riyadh. It was for the first time that AL-OIC Summit was held under one banner. A Saudi Foreign Ministry statement said that the decision of merging the two Summits was taken in order to demonstrate a unified and collective position that exemplifies the common Arab and Islamic will.[xvi]
Riyadh Summit Declaration: Divide and Lack of its Implementation
The extraordinary Arab and Islamic joint Summit was held in Riyadh on November 11, 2023.[xvii] The Summit meeting was chaired by the Foreign Minister of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, to discuss the Israeli aggression against the Palestinians in Gaza. The Arab-Islamic Summit was attended by the Presidents of Turkiye, Egypt, Tajikistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Indonesia, Djibouti, Egypt, and Somalia, Emir of Qatar, King of Jordan, Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Vice President of the UAE, Crown Prince of Kuwait, Heads of Yemeni and Libyan Presidential Council and President of Palestinian Authority.
The Secretary General of the AL, Ahmad Aboul Gheit, said that ceasefire in Gaza is the top priority of the current Summit while the OIC Secretary General called for a safe corridor for delivery of aid to the victims of Gaza. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia sought an immediate cessation of Israeli military operation and urged that a state of Palestine must be established on 1967 border.[xviii] Mr. Abbas, Chairman of Palestinian Authority said that Israel has crossed all red lines and termed the ongoing operation a war of extermination and urged the international community to address the refugee crisis. The King of Jordan accused Israel of committing war crime by cutting water, food and electricity to Gaza and said that international community has failed to do justice. The Emir of Qatar also expressed the same view.[xix] President Al-Sisi of Egypt said that the conflict needs to be settled on the basis of the two-state solution, while President Erdogan of Turkiye asked the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct an investigation into the nuclear weapons of Israel. President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran thanked the Kingdom for hosting the Summit and called for harmony and unity among the OIC member countries. He accused the US of entering the war as an ally of Israel and sought solution in establishing the state of Palestine from River to Sea. Raisi asked the Arab countries to arm the Palestinians if the Israeli attack continues[xx] and asked the Islamic bloc to designate the IDF as a terrorist organization for its actions in Gaza.[xxi] The head of Libyan Presidential Council said that these resolutions must be translated into concrete implementation.[xxii]
The resolution, consisting of 32 recommendations, passed at the end of the Summit strongly rejected the concept of Israel’s retaliation in Gaza as Israel’s self-defense and called upon the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to adopt a binding resolution to halt the war. The 32-ponits resolution also called for extending all support to Egypt in its efforts to provide assistance to the victims of Gaza.[xxiii] It also called for complete arm embargo against Israel and asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the Israeli war crimes committed during its military operation.[xxiv] In addition, the Resolution mandated two General Secretaries of the AL and the OIC to form two separate media monitoring units to document Israeli crimes against the children and women of Gaza.[xxv] Tunisia and Iraq were only countries that abstained from the resolution. Tunisia expressed its reservation on every clause of the resolution except on the issue of ceasefire and humanitarian aid, while Iraq’s principal objection was over two-state solution as it contravenes the Iraqi law. It is worth mentioning here that Tunisia is currently witnessing a fiery political debate on criminalization of normalization of ties with Israel.
It was observed during the proceedings that countries having diplomatic ties with Israel were opposed to any punitive economic or political moves against Israel. For example, Lebanon and Algeria called for an oil embargo against Israel but the UAE and Bahrain along with Turkiye opposed any such action. President Assad of Syria on his part said that absence of such punitive measures would render the Summit meaningless.[xxvi] He also said that if the bloc does not have the tools to put the pressure, these speeches would have no meaning.
Not much seems to have to come out of the Arab-Islamic Summit except that the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee set up by the Resolution[xxvii] has visited major capital cities of the world, such as Beijing, Moscow, London and Paris. It is worth mentioning here that a Ministerial Committee consisting of Foreign Ministers from Jordan, Indonesia, Qatar, Egypt, Turkiye, Nigeria, Palestine, Secretary Generals of the AL and the OIC has been formed under the leadership of Saudi Arabia.
Regional and Global Reactions and Other Outcomes of Riyadh Summit
Soon after the conclusion of the Summit on November 11, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called the Arab leaders to stand up against the Hamas, which he describes as an integral part of the axis of the terror led by Iran. Hamas called on the Summit participants to expel Israeli Ambassadors and to form a legal commission to try Israeli war criminals.[xxviii] Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati said that resolution adopted at the Summit must not remain merely ink on the paper but must be translated into concrete actions.[xxix] One of the Palestinian scholars, Aymen Al-Raqb, said that this Summit was able to present a unified Arab-Islamic position on Palestine after a long time. He also said that many were expecting more than this, but the present unity among the Arab-Islamic leaders itself is very positive sign.[xxx]
Apart from coming out with a long list of recommendations, the Arab-Islamic Summit witnessed some other major outcomes that would not have been possible in the near future in the absence of this Summit. The first and foremost was the visit of President of Iran who travelled to the Kingdom, which was the first visit by an Iranian President in twelve years after President Ahmadinejad had visited the Kingdom in 2012 to attend the OIC Summit. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia himself came out of the proceeding of the Summit to receive him. On the sidelines of the meeting, both the leaders held a bilateral meeting and discussed other regional and global issues.[xxxi] This meeting has been possible only after both restored their diplomatic ties in March 2023. This Summit also came as an opportunity for President Assad of Syria to travel to Saudi Arabia after his extended isolation from the Arab world on account of a prolonged civil war in the country. For Assad it was an opportunity to mingle with the Arab-Islamic leaders who are still grappling with the idea of President Assad’s acceptance as a legitimate ruler of Syria. But other analysts were of the view that Assad’s participation in the Summit was a routine exercise because Syria has already been readmitted in the AL.
Conclusion
The Riyadh Summit ended with passing of a list of recommendations. The ‘emergency and extraordinary’ meeting was convened after two weeks of its announcement and on the 35th day of the launch of the Israeli military operation in Gaza. The final statement consists of 32 recommendations ranging from condemnation to denunciation to rejection to demands to affirmation, but perhaps it lacked mechanism to implement this huge list of recommendations. The Summit did not dwell upon long-pending Israel-Palestine dispute and instead focused on current unfolding Israel-Gaza situation.
The message delivered at the Summit is not likely to put any pressure on Israel or its Western allies and more over there is an already sense of redundancy of entities like OIC or AL among some Arab countries. The opposition parties in Algeria are already asking the government to withdraw from the AL. Algerian President skipped the Riyadh Summit, and there was complete blackout of the Riyadh Summit by the public broadcast. On the other hand, many of the participants expressed their satisfaction only because of the severe nature of the demands sought by some countries. For example, Palestinian envoy to the AL said that seeking expulsion of the Israeli Ambassadors from the Arab countries was unprecedented in the history of any Arab-Islamic Summit. It was also noticed during the Summit that countries like Iran were putting forward their national agenda, which was far removed from the reality of the time. Iran was perhaps the only country other than Iraq that expressed its opposition to two-state solution and it called for the establishment of Palestinian state from Sea to River, which is the slogan chanted very often by its allies: Hamas and Hezbollah. The division between pro-US countries and pro-Iran nations was quite visible, while Egypt and Turkiye seemed more interested in addressing their constituencies at home. Some of the suggestions at the Summit seemed to be oblivious of today’s geopolitical realities like the demand for oil embargo against Israel. One should not overlook the fact that in the last five decades, since the first oil embargo of 1973, global political and strategic landscapes have completely changed and countries’ reliance on Gulf oil has lessened drastically and moreover both power equation and geopolitics have also gone through an epochal transformation.
*****
*Dr. Fazzur Rahman Siddiqui, Senior Research Fellow, Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.
The views expressed are personal.
Endnotes
[i]Aressh Lodhi, Israel-Hamas Truce Deal, “All You Need to Know, Aljazeera English, November 22, 2023, Accessed https://acesse.dev/EXtej November 25, 2023
[ii]Aressh Lodhi, https://acesse.dev/EXtej
[iii]Nelly Lahoud, A Catastrophic Success for Hamas, Foreign Affairs, October 23, 2023
[iv]Nelly Lahoud
[v]Abdul Bari Atwan, Has the War of Ethnic Cleansing Intensifies in Gaza, Rail Youm (An Arabic Daily) November 27, 2023, Accessed https://l1nq.com/E3Bym November 30, 2023
[vi] Ragip Soylu, Israel-Palestine War: Saudi Plans to Host a Gaza Summit, Middle East Eye, November 6, 2023, Accessed https://l1nq.com/wvZRx November 20, 2023
[vii] Saudi Arabia Pauses Normalization Talk with Israel amid Ongoing War with Hamas, France 24, October 14, 2023, Accessed https://encr.pw/sgDlL November 24, 2023
[viii]What We should know about Cairo Summit on Gaza, Euro news, October 21, 2023, Accessed https://acesse.dev/9KW0c November 21, 2023
[ix]World Leaders Arrive in Egypt for Summit, CNN, October 21, 2023, Accessed https://encr.pw/XHqbB November 13, 2023
[x]World Leaders Arrive in Egypt for Summit, https://acesse.dev/XHqbB
[xi]What We should know about Cairo Summit on Gaza https://acesse.dev/9KW0c
[xii]Egypt Peace Summit May Struggle to Foster Unity on Gaza Conflict, Reutter Agency, October 20, 2023, Accessed https://encr.pw/GW9ZM November 5, 2023
[xiii]Ragip Soylu, Israel-Palestine War: Saudi Plans to Host a Gaza Summit, https://acesse.dev/wvZRx
[xiv] Riyadh Host joint Arab-Islamic Summit after disagreement over response, The New Arab , November 11, 2023, Accessed https://rb.gy/0lxg6t December 6, 2023
[xv] Saudi Merges two Summits, Al-Ain (An Arabic Daily), November 11, 2023, Accessed https://acesse.dev/7Rfir November 20, 2023
[xvi] Saudi Announces to Merge two Summits into One, Ashrqal Awsat (An Arabic Daily), November 10, 2023, Accessed https://l1nq.com/DgikW November 23, 2023
[xvii] Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting of Arab-Islamic Summit, OIC Report, November 11, 2023, Accessed https://encr.pw/5VRxw November 13, 2023
[xviii] Extraordinary Arab Summit, MBS for State of Palestine on 1967 border, Lebanon File, November 11, 2023, Accessed shttps://encr.pw/X4h70 November 17, 2023
[xix] Extraordinary Arab Summit, MBS for State of Palestine on 1967 https://encr.pw/X4h70
[xx] Arab League and OIC Summit on Gaza Calls for Arms Embargo, The National, November 11, 2023, Accessed https://l1nq.com/F5fbI November 27, 2023
[xxi] Arab Muslim Leaders Slam Isarel but differ on response, Manchester Times, November 11, 2023, Accessed https://acesse.dev/QXDqg November 27, 2023
[xxii] Arab-Islamic Summits: Highlight of the Leaders Statements, Sky News (Arabic), November 11, 2023, Accessed https://acesse.dev/CDpgU November 27, 2023
[xxiii] Thirty-Two Recommendations: Statements of the Riyadh Sumit, Ikhbarul-al-Youm (Arabic), November 11, 2023, Accessed https://acesse.dev/B9nkT November 13, 2023
[xxiv] Arab League and OIC Summit on Gaza Calls for Arms Embargo https://l1nq.com/F5fbI
[xxv] Resolution of the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Israeli Aggression against Palestinian People
[xxvii] Arab Islamic Action Intensifies to Implement Riyadh Summit Resolutions, Ashrqal Awsat (English), November 18, 2023, Accessed https://l1nq.com/XqeZp November 30, 2023
[xxviii] Arab Islamic Leaders Slam Isarel but Differ on response, France 24, November 11, 2023, Accessed https://encr.pw/EPbkn November 22, 2023
[xxix] Dil Bar Irshad, Arab Islamic Summit: A Deep Dive into the Outcome, BNP, November 12, 2023, Accessed https://l1nq.com/POOzq November 15, 2023
[xxx] Expert Spek on the Outcome of the Summit, Al-Ain (Arabic Daily), November 11, 2023, Accessed https://encr.pw/DojUS November 24, 2023
[xxxi] First after Years, Crown Prince Meets President Raisi in Riyadh, CNN (Arabic), November 11, 2023, Accessed https://l1nq.com/nOzIJ November 19, 2023