DOHA: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday arrived in Doha to attend the extraordinary Arab-Islamic summit convened to formulate a joint response to Israel’s ongoing military campaign, with last week’s deadly strike in Doha dominating the agenda.
The visit comes a day after Pakistan urged the international community to hold Israel “accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity”. At a preparatory meeting of foreign ministers, Islamabad also proposed creation of an “Arab-Islamic task force” and adoption of “effective deterrent and offensive measures” to check what it described as Israel’s expansionist designs.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, addressing the session, said: “Israel’s actions reek of an unabashed aggressor that is hell bent on achieving its heinous objectives and is unbothered if that pursuit topples the entire edifice of international order. No state is safe from such an unhinged entity that defies all precepts of civilized behaviour.”
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Washington’s “unwavering support” for Israel on Monday, dismissing calls for recognition of a Palestinian state and accusing Western nations of emboldening Hamas.
Pressure on Israel
The joint Arab League and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit, hosted by Qatar, seeks to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel as calls grow to halt the war and address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Hamas said its top leadership survived last week’s Israeli air strike in Doha that killed six people and sparked a wave of criticism, including from US President Donald Trump.
A draft of the summit’s final statement, seen by AFP, warned that Israel’s “brutal aggression” threatened efforts to normalise ties between Arab states and Israel. The draft said the war “threatens all that has been achieved on the path toward establishing normal relations, including existing and future agreements.”
It added that Israel’s “genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza… undermines the prospects of achieving peace and peaceful coexistence in the region.”
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told a preparatory meeting: “The time has come for the international community to stop using double standards and to punish Israel for all the crimes it has committed.”
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Collective security
The nearly 60-nation gathering is also expected to stress “the concept of collective security… and the necessity of aligning together to face common challenges and threats”, according to the draft.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are among the leaders attending.
An extraordinary meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is also being held in Doha alongside the summit, Saudi state media reported.
The United Nations Human Rights Council, meanwhile, announced it would hold an urgent debate on Tuesday on Israel’s air strike in Qatar.
Aziz Algashian, a Saudi-based researcher on Middle East relations, said expectations were high for tangible outcomes. “We’ve exhausted all forms of rhetoric. Now it’s just going to have to be actions — and we’ll see what those actions will be,” he said.
