Arab foreign ministers met to discuss developments in Gaza and Jerusalem at an extraordinary Arab League meeting in Cairo on Thursday.
The Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said that the US moving its embassy to Jerusalem is an illegal act and shows that Washington is siding against Palestinian interests.
“Our meeting today comes at a time of utmost importance as the US has moved its embassy to Jerusalem,” Adel Al-Jubeir said in the opening session of the meeting called by his country.
The Secretary-General of Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit, meanwhile, called for an international probe into alleged “crimes” committed by Israeli forces against Palestinians during deadly violence along the Gaza border this week.
“We call for a credible international investigation into the crimes committed by the occupation,” Aboul Gheit said at the opening session of the extraordinary meeting.
Aboul Gheit continued by saying: “We are facing a state of blatant aggression against international law and legitimacy which was embodied by the US embassy’s transfer in the occupying state to Jerusalem.”
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki thanked Saudi Arabia for calling for an emergency Arab League meeting to discuss the Israeli killings in Gaza and the US embassy in Israel’s move to Jerusalem.
The Egyptian Foreign minister Sameh Shoukry condemned the US embassy’s move and said “any embassy move to Jerusalem is considered null and void.”
The Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah said that the inability of the UN Security Council to carry out its mission has allowed Israeli violations to take place.
Permanent delegates to the Cairo-based Arab League met on Wednesday to prepare for the ministerial session called by Saudi Arabia on “the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.”
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been protesting for seven weeks to be able to return to their historic homes they fled in 1948 and which later became part of Israel.
Israeli forces killed 60 Palestinians on Monday when tens of thousands of Palestinians had gathered near the border, while smaller numbers approached the fence and sought to break through.
The violence happened on the same day that the United States opened its Israel embassy in Jerusalem. Another two Palestinians were killed on Tuesday.
Israel has come under mounting international pressure over the deadly violence. Its forces have killed 116 Palestinians since a campaign of protests on the Gaza-Israel border was launched on March 30. with input Arab News
