The Arab League met in Algeria for the first time in two years, and their final declaration called for freedom for the Palestinian people who have suffered under a brutal Israeli military occupation for almost six decades. The meeting of nearly 22 nations across the Middle East and North Africa coincided with Israeli elections, which has brought to power a far-right party that wants to annex the West Bank and deport Palestinians from their homes.
Arab leaders attending the meeting tip-toed around the Abraham Accords, which saw the United Emirates and Bahrain normalize their relations with Israel, with Saudi Arabia later allowing for over-flights of the Kingdom by Israeli aircraft, and is seen as a potential precursor to wider Arab normalization with Israel.
Although the Arab world is deeply divided and polarized, the League managed to deliver a final declaration focused on the core issue of Palestinian human rights and freedom.
The Arab League General Secretariat affirmed its rejection of all Israeli settlement plans, condemned what it described as the annexation of Palestinian territory, stressed the need to compel the Israeli occupation to implement the relevant UN resolutions and work toward a comprehensive and fair two-state solution under the 2002 Arab peace initiative.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said, "Our main and first cause, the mother of all causes, the Palestinian issue, will be at the heart of our concerns and our main priority."
United Nations
Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, attended the meeting and appealed for unity across the Arab world.
"Division opens the door to foreign, non-Arab, interference, terrorism, manipulation, and sectarian strife. But united, your leadership can shape a region that makes the most of its enormous potential and contributes to global peace and security," Guterres said.
Foreign intervention in the Middle East has mainly come from the US. Muammar Gadhafi of Libya famously addressed the Arab League in 2008 and held up a paper that was sent to him and all other Arab leaders from the US telling them what their agenda was to be, and the expected results of that Arab League meeting. Gadhafi went on to prophetically warn his counterparts that the US had eliminated Saddam Hussein, and they could all expect they would be next.
Guterres focused attention on the continued suffering of the Palestinian people, underlining the UN's explicit position that the occupation must end.
"Our shared goal remains two States - Israel and Palestine - living side by side in peace and security, with Al-Quds/Jerusalem as the capital of both States," he said.
"We must do all we can to ensure the continued success of the Black Sea Grain Initiative to provide relief to those in need, including countries in the Middle East and North Africa relying on accessible and affordable food and fertilizers "- both from Ukraine and the Russian Federation," he said.
The UN is concerned with global famine due to the Ukraine war, but where was the UN when the huge wheat stores in northeast Syria were stolen by the Radical Islamic terrorists utilized by the US-NATO attack on Syria for 'regime change'? The wheat was taken to Turkey and then sold to the EU where France used it for their croissants, and Italy for its pasta.
Syria was not invited back
Syria's participation in the Arab League has been suspended since November 2011, which demonstrates a large group of Arab nations supported the US-NATO attack on Syria using the Muslim Brotherhood ideology and terrorist foot soldiers.
In July 2022, Algeria's foreign minister decried Syria's decade-long suspension from the Arab League during a visit to Damascus, indicating support for the war-torn country's return to the organization under President Bashar Assad.
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