Yamanat
Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper said that Saudi Arabia asked the UAE and Bahrain to suspend their diplomatic relations with Israel on the sidelines of the meeting of the Open-ended Executive Committee of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
On Wednesday, October 18, 2023, a meeting of the open-ended Executive Committee was held at the level of foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the city of Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The meeting recognized the need for the international community to play its role towards the Palestinian issue and the current situation in Gaza, holding the Israeli side responsible for the illegal siege of the Gaza Strip.
On the sidelines of this meeting, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah conveyed the message of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain regarding the necessity of suspending diplomatic relations with Israel.
According to the newspaper, this letter stated, “The UAE and Bahrain’s haste in normalizing relations with Israel is a reason for what is happening in Gaza today, and these two countries must suspend diplomatic relations with this regime as soon as possible.”
Saudi Arabia considers that the normalization of relations with Israel by some Gulf and Islamic countries before starting a peace process based on the principle of a two-state solution contributed to increasing Israeli aggression towards the Palestinian people.
It is worth noting that the meeting will discuss the steps that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation can take and will determine a common position by member states in confronting Israel’s actions that target all the Palestinian people in Gaza without discrimination.