CAIRO: The Arab League has said that peaceful coexistence in the Middle East cannot be achieved without a Palestinian state and an end to what it described as Israel's "hostile practices". In a resolution submitted by Egypt and Saudi Arabia and adopted on Thursday, the League said that "the failure to reach a just solution to the Palestinian cause and the hostile practices of the occupying power" remain major obstacles to "peaceful coexistence" in the region.
The resolution was part of a wider meeting in Cairo where foreign ministers endorsed a "Joint Vision for Security and Cooperation in the Region". The meeting came as Israeli forces intensified their military offensive around Gaza City — the territory's largest urban centre — and days after Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called for annexation of swathes of the West Bank to "bury the idea of a Palestinian state".
In the resolution, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, the Arab bloc said that lasting peace, cooperation and coexistence in the Middle East are not possible while Israel continues to occupy Arab land or "issues implicit threats to occupy or annex further Arab lands". Egypt and Jordan have signed peace treaties with Israel.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces shot dead a 57-year-old man near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. In a statement, the Palestinian health ministry announced "the martyrdom of citizen Ahmed Abdel Fattah Shahada... by occupation bullets," near a checkpoint south of Nablus in the northern West Bank late on Friday. The Israeli military said in a statement that "a terrorist arrived at (a) checkpoint and hurled a suspicious object at (Israeli) soldiers operating in the area." It said no Israeli soldiers were injured.
Violence has surged in the Palestinian territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967, since the start of the Gaza war nearly two years ago. Since Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023, at least 973 Palestinians, including militants, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers, according to figures from the Palestinian health ministry. During the same period, at least 36 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations, according to official Israeli figures. — AFP
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