TV report: Saudis helped blocked Arab summit bid to sever all contacts with Israel

Today, 8:21 pm  

A group portrait taken prior to the start of an emergency meeting of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Handout/Iranian Presidency/AFP)

According to Channel 12 Arab affairs analyst Ehud Ya’ari, most of the states present at today’s Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Riyadh sought to include in the meeting’s closing statement five additional clauses that were rejected by Israel’s Arab peace partners and some others, including the demand to sever all ties with Israel.

The rejected demands were: to prevent the transfer of US military equipment to Israel from US bases in the region; to freeze all diplomatic and economic contacts with Israel; to threaten to use oil as a means of leverage; to bar flights to and from Israel through Arab states’ airspace; and to dispatch a joint delegation to the US, Europe, and Russia to push for a ceasefire.

The countries that rejected these demands were Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco, Mauritania, Djibouti, Jordan and Egypt, Ya’ari says.