Saudi Arabia's foreign minister says Israel blocking Ramallah meeting proof of 'extremism'
AMMAN, June 1 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said the Israeli government's refusal to allow a delegation of Arab ministers to the occupied West Bank showed its "extremism and rejection of peace".
His statement came during a joint press conference in Amman with counterparts from Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain, after they met as part of an Arab contact group that was going to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.
"Israel's refusal of the committee's visit to the West Bank embodies and confirms its extremism and refusal of any serious attempts for (a) peaceful pathway .. It strengthens our will to double our diplomatic efforts within the international community to face this arrogance," the Saudi minister said.
On Saturday, Israel said it would not allow a planned meeting on Sunday that would have included ministers from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Palestinian Authority officials said.
Bin Farhan's visit to the West Bank would have marked the first such visit by a top Saudi official in recent memory.
An Israeli official said the ministers intended to take part in a "provocative meeting" to discuss promoting the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said blocking the trip was another example of how Israel was "killing any chance of a just and comprehensive" Arab-Israeli settlement.
An international conference, co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, is due to be held in New York on June 17-20 to discuss the issue of Palestinian statehood.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said the conference would cover security arrangements after a ceasefire in Gaza and reconstruction plans to ensure Palestinians would remain on their land and foil any Israeli plans to evict them.
Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries which favour a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
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A Chinese Harvard graduate was blissfully unaware that an all-out brawl was breaking out right behind her as she preached unity amid 'difficult times.' Yurong 'Luanna' Jiang was discussing her now-viral commencement speech outside of a café in Cambridge, Massachusetts as two men behind her started throwing punches. 'The message itself is - if I had to put it into one sentence, it would be "Humanity rises and falls as one,"' Jiang told the Associated Press of her speech as a man wearing a black backpack could be seen apparently punching someone off camera. Soon, he and another man could be seen falling over chairs, at which point a white-haired man in a black shirt climbs atop the man with the backpack. Still, Jiang continued to speak about peace. 'I think we are living in very difficult times,' she said. 'There's a lot of division in terms of ideas, ethnicities, identities,' the college grad continues as the man in the black shirt yells in the man with the backpack's face. At that point, a third man could be seen coming into view apparently trying to break the two men up, while Jiang suggests 'we can use a little bit more moral imagination and imagine ourselves being connected with one another.' Behind her the man in the black shirt could be seen still holding onto the other man as he stands up. 'There's a lot that's going on outside of Harvard,' Jiang then acknowledges, still seemingly unaware of the chaos behind her. 'There's conflict, there's geopolitical competition, there's a lot of things going on outside Harvard, but also [at] Harvard,' she continued. 'You know, the school has some disagreement with - in terms of whether the school should, you know, promote the presence of international students,' Jiang said of President Donald Trump's plan to block foreign students from obtaining a visa. Meanwhile, behind her the man with the backpack could be seen grabbing the other man's shirt, but the man in the black shirt is able to get free and walks away - apparently telling the man with the backpack to stay down in the process. That man then also stands up and appears to be animated about what had just happened, as Jiang finishes up her thoughts. It remains unclear what the men may have been fighting about. 'I think, well, it's particularly important because there's a lot going on outside Harvard - the conflict, the geopolitical tensions,' Jiang said of her commencement speech. 'And especially important in Harvard because students can be very emotionally charged, because they deeply care about a lot of issues. 'And when you are emotionally charged and activated, it is very easy to demonize another person.' Jiang made similar points in her commencement speech, which came the same day that a federal judge blocked the Trump administration's ban on foreign students. She had argued to the Harvard community that 'humanity rises and falls as one,' as she shared how she was told as a young child that her generation would bridge international divides. 'That promise of a connected world, it's giving way to division, fear and conflict,' Jiang said. 'We're starting to believe those who think differently, vote differently, or pray differently whether they are across the ocean or sitting right next to us are not just wrong. We mistakenly see them as evil,' she argued. 'But it doesn't have to be this way,' Jiang continued, saying that she learned from her time at Harvard that it is important to 'sit with discomfort, listen deeply and stay soft in hard times. 'Because if we still believe in a shared future, let us not forget those who were labeled as enemies - they, too, are human. In seeing their humanity, we find our own. 'In the end, we do not rise by proving another wrong. We rise by refusing to let one another go,' Jiang concluded. Her message of unity was widely shared online - though some in the United States claimed Jiang has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. They have said Jiang's father works for a non-government organization that serves the party, though some Chinese social media users claimed the organization her father works for is backed by prominent American companies and foundations. could not independently verify either claim. Still, the founder and CEO of Republicans Overseas, a political organization for Americans abroad, even called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to cancel Jiang's visa for her speech. '@MarcoRubio, this Chinese student Yurong "Luanna" Jiang is using her commencement address at Harvard to propagandize #XiJinping's "a community with a shared future for mankind,"' Solomon Yue Jr, who was born in China and immigrated to the US, posted on X. 'This #CCP infiltrator's visa should be canceled. Her internship in America must be terminated.' 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