Palestine top priority at Arab summit – Al-Jubeir

Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir said on Thursday that the Palestinian issue is a top priority at the 29th Arab summit to be held on Sunday. Presiding over the meeting of the Arab foreign ministers, preparatory to the summit, Al-Jubeir deplored the announcement of Washington about accepting the moving of Israel’s capital to Jerusalem, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. “We fully back the unanimous global rejection of this move as it would scuttle the global efforts to achieve an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict,” he said.

Al-Jubeir stressed that terrorism must be dealt with firmly and the sources of its funding should be dried up. He emphasized that there won’t be peace and stability in the region as long as Iran continues its intervention in the region through inciting sectarian strife and supporting the Houthi militias besides harboring Al-Qaeda leaders. “Iran and terrorism are two sides of the same coin in the region,” he said, while stressing that Houthi militias bear full responsibility for the crisis in Yemen.

Addressing the meeting, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary general of the Arab League, said that the serious crises in the region facilitated foreign interference. He noted that the victory over Daesh (so-called IS) must be consolidated by calling for the reconstruction of the affected areas. Gheit condemned Iranian interference in Bahrain and other Arab countries.

“There is an Arab consensus on the unity of Syrian territory,” he said, while pointing out that a political solution is the best way to resolve the crisis and also stressed the need to maintain the Geneva process to achieve a political solution to the crisis.