Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is flanked by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and members of the Islamic Ministerial Committee delegation, in Moscow on Tuesday.
Nov 21, 2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
Moscow.
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan voiced concern over the ongoing process of forced displacement of Palestinians by the Israeli occupation forces from the besieged Gaza Strip.
“There is no real goal behind this war that only causes more suffering and destruction in Gaza. The pretext of self-dense cannot be used to justify the humanitarian tragedy,” he said.
Prince Faisal made the remarks during a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday. Prince Faisal, headed the Islamic
Ministerial Committee delegation, on the second leg of its tour to meet members
of the United Nations Security Council in their efforts to stop the military
escalation, achieve truce, protect civilians, and expand the humanitarian
corridor in Gaza.
The Saudi foreign minister called for an immediate ceasefire and lifting of the
siege on Gaza, as well as for the release of the prisoners and hostages. Prince
Faisal said that overlooking the heinous crimes committed by the Israeli
occupation forces against Palestinian civilians angered the Arab and Muslim
world.
“We cannot talk about the future of Gaza at this stage before a ceasefire is achieved and before all forms of violence against civilians and civilian areas are halted.
What we witnessed was the selective application of
international legal and moral standards and turning a blind eye to the heinous
crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces against defenseless
Palestinian civilians, which aroused the indignation of the Islamic and Arab
world and sincere human feelings,” he said.
Prince Faisal emphasized that the Arab-Islamic ministerial delegation looks
forward to working with Russia and international partners to put an end to the
crisis.
While drawing attention to the blatant violation of international laws by Israel, the minister stated that launching a peace process to end the conflict requires activating an effective accountability mechanism towards the Israeli violations.
“We are working to strengthen cooperation with
international partners to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza,” he said while stressing
the need to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Members of the committee participated in the meeting with Lavrov included
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan
Ayman Safadi, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri, Palestinian Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riyad al-Maliki, Indonesian Foreign Minister
Retno Marsudi, and Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
(OIC) Hissein Brahim Taha.
Moscow is the second stop of the tour of the members of the Islamic Ministerial
Committee, deputed by the Arab and Islamic Summit held in Riyadh on Nov. 11 to
discuss the Gaza situation.
The extraordinary joint Arab-Islamic Summit issued
a resolution that tasked the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt,
Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Palestine to initiate immediate
international action, on behalf of all member states of the OIC and the Arab
League, to end the Gaza conflict.
The first stop of the delegation was in China where the foreign ministers and
OIC chief met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and Foreign Minister
Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday. The committee is expected to visit the rest of
the Security Council member states to discuss stopping the war in Gaza over the
coming days.
(Saudi media)