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Mecca summit supports Palestinians, backs Saudi amid Iran tensions
MECCA, Saudi Arabia, June 1, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Saudi-hosted Islamic summit
on Saturday threw its support behind Palestinians ahead of a US-led peace
plan suspected to be skewed in favour of Israel, as regional allies rallied
around Saudi Arabia over tensions with Iran.
Gulf and Arab leaders at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
talks, the third and final Iran-focused summit in the holy city of Mecca,
denounced the controversial US move to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem and
recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
The summit, marked by the notable absence of Iran and Turkey’s leaders,
also urged OIC members to “boycott” countries that have opened diplomatic
missions in the city.
Trump broke with decades of bipartisan policy to recognise Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel in December 2017.
The statement comes as Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner prepares to roll
out economic aspects of his long-awaited Middle East peace plan at a
conference in Bahrain later this month.
The plan, dubbed by Trump as the “deal of the century”, has already been
rejected by the Palestinians, who say Trump’s policies have shown him to be
blatantly biased in favour of Israel.
– ‘Aggressive threats’ –
The 57-member OIC also backed Saudi Arabia over escalating tensions with
Iran, as King Salman warned that “terrorist” attacks in the Gulf region could
imperil global energy supplies,
The remark came after sabotage attacks damaged four vessels, two of them
Saudi oil tankers, off the UAE and twin Yemeni rebel drone attacks shut down
a key Saudi oil pipeline.
“We confirm that terrorist actions not only target the kingdom and the Gulf
region, but also target the safety of navigation and world oil supplies,” the
king told OIC member states.
Tehran has strongly denied involvement in any of the incidents.
In a tweet just before the start of the summit, the king vowed to confront
“aggressive threats and subversive activities”.
“Undermining the security of the kingdom effectively undermines the
security of the Arab and Islamic world,” said OIC Secretary-General Yousef
bin Ahmed al-Othaimeen, voicing solidarity that was shared by other members.
In two previous back-to-back summits on Friday, Gulf and Arab allies
similarly threw their support behind Saudi Arabia, which drew accusations
from Iran of “sowing division”.
The summits came after Trump’s hawkish National Security Advisor John
Bolton said Wednesday that Iranian naval mines were “almost certainly”
responsible for the damage to the four ships off the United Arab Emirates on
May 12.
The findings of a five-nation inquiry into what happened have yet to be
released.
Tehran dismissed Bolton’s accusation as “laughable” and accused him of
pursuing “evil desires for chaos in the region”.
– Erdogan absent –
Regional tensions have grown since US President Donald Trump’s
administration reimposed sanctions against Iran, after Washington pulled out
of a multilateral 2015 nuclear accord signed with the Islamic republic.
But Trump has appeared to soften his tone towards Tehran, saying that his
government does not seek “regime change”.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was notably absent from the key OIC
summit, an AFP photographer said.
A regional heavyweight, Turkey — which maintains close ties with Iran —
was instead represented by its Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani was also not present.
Erdogan’s visit would have been his first to the kingdom since the brutal
murder last October of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in
Istanbul, which tarnished the international reputation of Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman.
BSS/AFP/GMR/1128 hrs