Arab-Islamic Committee & UN ignore HKOPS path to peace
The Ministerial Committee appointed at the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit on 11 November missed a golden opportunity to advance an end to the Jewish-Arab conflict when they met with United Nations Secretary-General – Mr. António Guterres – on 29 November.
Members of this Committee comprised:
- Summit Chairman – His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah – Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar,
- His Excellency the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriate Affairs of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Ayman Al-Safadi,
- His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mr. Sameh Shoukry,
- His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the State of Palestine, Riad Malki,
- His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye, Hakan Fidan,
- Her Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Ms. Retno Marsudi, and
- His Excellency the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit,
- Attending: His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Malaysia, Dr. Zambry Abd Kadir, and UAE Minister of State Khalifa Shaheen Almarar, Representative of the Arab Group in the Security Council.
Lots of firepower – but little fire.
Lots of Excellencies – but little of excellence in what they and Guterres had to say:
They repeated their failed mantra heard over and over for the last 20 years:
“The meeting tackled the importance of implementing the resolutions issued by the United Nations regarding the protection and security of the Palestinian people from violations committed by the Israeli occupation forces, and returning to the path of peace by implementing international resolutions related to the two-state solution, and enabling the Palestinian people to obtain their legitimate rights to establish an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the lines of 4th June 1967, with East Al-Quds as its capital.”
They continued to ignore the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution (HKOPS) – published in Arabic in Saudi Arabia in the Government-controlled Al Arabiya News on 8 June 2022 – authored by an advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – which trashes their failed two-state solution by:
- Proposing Gaza, part of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Jordan be merged into one territorial entity called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine – having its capital in Amman and being governed by Jordan – not Hamas or the PLO
- Acknowledging:
“Jordanians and Palestinians are as similar as any people can be. They are Sunni Arabs from the same neighbourhood. Merging them will not create any long-term ethnic or sectarian fault lines.”
None of their Excellencies or the 57 countries they represent – nor Guterres – had issued any statement between 8 June 2022 and 7 October 2023 supporting the implementation of HKOPS – which could have prevented Gaza’s invasion of Israel on October 7 and its horrific consequences.
None condemned Gaza’s continuing indiscriminate bombing of Israeli population centres since October 7.
None denounced Hamas – whose Charter states:
“.. the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that.”
Why do these Pooh-Bahs continue to refuse considering the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution to replace their own failed two-state solution?
Please join my Facebook Page: “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine supporters”
Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.
David Singer is a Sydney lawyer and a foundation member of the International Analysts Network
