UAE calls for unified stance to protect Palestinian lives
The Federal National Council (FNC) emphasised that the challenges facing the region —ranging from political conflicts and disputes, economic and climate crises, to technological complexities — are increasingly shaping the present and influencing the trajectories of the future.
These challenges place a collective responsibility on all of us to strengthen joint Arab parliamentary action, activate tools of parliamentary diplomacy, promote peaceful solutions, and enhance frameworks of dialogue, integration, cooperation, and Arab solidarity.
This was stated in the FNC's address delivered by Dr Tariq Humaid Al Tayer, First Deputy Speaker of the FNC and Chairman of the UAE Parliamentary Division delegation to the Arab Inter-parliamentary Union (AIPU), on behalf of Saqr Ghobash, Speaker of the Federal National Council, during the 38th Conference of the AIPU held in Algiers, Algeria, from May 2 to 4, 2025.
The UAE Parliamentary Division stressed the importance of intensifying efforts in parliamentary diplomacy — regionally and internationally — in cooperation with all partners to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid, de-escalation of conflicts, and the protection of civilians in accordance with the rules of international humanitarian law.
Dr Al Tayer stated that the Palestinian cause remains the foremost issue for Arabs, Muslims, and indeed humanity at large.
It is currently undergoing a highly critical and existential moment, facing immense challenges and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe.
This calls for a unified Arab position that matches the scale of the tragedy, restores justice, dignity, and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.
He added that the war in Gaza, now entering its second year, has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties and injuries, forced mass displacement from Palestinian territories, and caused widespread infrastructure destruction.
The resulting humanitarian disaster has been exacerbated by the brutal siege imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, threatening the collapse of the humanitarian aid system and endangering civilian lives while undermining even the minimum conditions for survival.
Dr Al Tayer affirmed that moral obligation, historical responsibility, and our shared humanity compel us to rise to this challenge.
A unified and steadfast Arab stance is required — one that reflects the hopes and aspirations of our peoples amid the painful events unfolding in the Palestinian territories.
This includes strengthening solidarity and joint action to protect the lives of our Palestinian brothers and sisters, urgently providing humanitarian aid, and urging governments and the international community to fulfill their responsibilities regarding this humanitarian catastrophe.
He emphasised that the UAE, throughout its history, has never spared any effort in supporting the Palestinian people— politically, developmentally, and in humanitarian relief.
The UAE has consistently stood by them during various circumstances and continues its humanitarian efforts through "Operation Chivalrous Knight 3," which is part of its ongoing aid and relief support to the people of Gaza.
This embodies the UAE's deeply rooted humanitarian approach established by the late founding father, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and continues under the state's steadfast policy in supporting the Palestinian people and defending just causes.
Dr Al Tayer reiterated the UAE's firm stance rejecting Israel's policy of collective punishment and all attempts at the forced displacement of Palestinians from their lands.
He called for an end to starvation and settlement policies, which constitute clear violations of international humanitarian law and UN resolutions.
Dr Al Tayer further called for a permanent ceasefire, the release of hostages and detainees from both sides, and the resumption of political dialogue through peaceful and effective channels, paving the way for a just settlement that meets the aspirations of the Palestinian people and contributes to establishing security and stability in the region after long years of suffering, violence, and destruction.
He also reaffirmed the UAE's longstanding and unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and the rights of the Palestinian people to live in freedom and dignity.
The UAE supports all regional and international efforts aimed at reviving the peace process on the basis of the two-state solution, which it views as the optimal strategic path toward establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with the Arab Peace Initiative and international legitimacy resolutions.
Dr Al Tayer concluded by noting that the situation in the Arab region has become increasingly complex and interlinked due to rapid challenges and deep regional and global transformations. These have been intensified by changes in international relations and the rise of a new world order marked by unprecedented alliances and technologies, while at the same time, there has been a decline in the effectiveness of multilateral institutions and a growing erosion of trust in their roles.
This reality imposes a collective responsibility on us to rebuild our tools and approaches.
He emphasised, 'In light of this, we affirm that the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union is now more than ever required to rebuild trust by adopting proactive and forward-looking visions to address the most pressing issues. It must strengthen its role as a unifying platform for Arab parliamentary action.'
This requires activating parliamentary diplomacy tools at the national, regional, and international levels, developing work mechanisms, and building strategic partnerships with parliaments and international organisations to serve the causes of the Arab nation, its supreme interests, and enhance its position amid a complex and ever-changing global system,'' he concluded.
WAM
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Azerbaijan maintains oil sales to Israel despite Turkish backlash, says report
Azerbaijan has vowed to Israel that it will continue supplying the country with oil, despite officially halting oil sales last year, according to a report in Haaretz. Baku recently removed oil sales to Israel from its customs records, after steady year-on-year increases in exports to the country which had reached over a million tons in 2024. According to the records, exports to Israel stopped in October amid the war on Gaza. However, Israeli sources told Haaretz that the sales have continued, and that the change in customs records may be due to the transactions being made to traders registered in third countries. "We received a promise from the Azerbaijanis that the strategic relations will continue, including in the energy sector, and we have nothing to worry about," one source said. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Two Israeli sources said that the halt on sales in October was driven by pressure from Turkey, Baku's most important political and military ally. Azerbaijan's state oil company to invest $7bn in Turkey Read More » The Turkish pressure, Haaretz reported, is partly due to the fact that Azerbaijani oil exported to Israel is carried by the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, running through Turkey. Ankara cut trade ties with Israel in May last year over the war on Gaza and Israeli refusal to allow Turkey to airdrop humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian enclave. Several Turkish opposition parties and voices have protested against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, accusing it of continuing to supply Israel with Azerbaijani oil. Protests have also taken place outside the Istanbul office of Socar, Azerbaijan's state oil company. The Israeli source told Haaretz: "Even if Azerbaijan stops exporting oil to Israel, we will not collapse. We will bring it from somewhere else. "But they want to balance the situation in which they are dependent only on us, from a security perspective.' Tankers turning off tracking signal Israel provided military and diplomatic assistance to Azerbaijan in its offensive against Armenia in September 2023, which resulted in an Azerbaijani takeover of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Ilham Shaban, the chairman of the Azerbaijani Caspian Barrel Oil Research Centre, told Haaretz that by selling oil through individuals, it can avoid publicising that the exports eventually end up in Israel. He said that Baku could then claim that the sales do 'not fuel the planes that annihilate Palestinian children'. Analysis in November found evidence of 'systemised trade' in crude oil between Turkey and Israel, despite Ankara's trade embargo over the war. The Stop Fuelling Genocide campaign released evidence that suggested that the Seavigour tanker shipped crude oil from Turkey's Ceyhan port to a pipeline near Ashkelon in Israel. Cop29 turns heat up on Turkey and Azerbaijan over oil exports to Israel Read More » The port is the last stop on the BP-owned Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. The oil is then shipped from the Heydar Aliyev Terminal at Ceyhan to Israel, accounting for almost 30 percent of its crude oil imports. The researchers tracked 10 journeys made in 2024 by the Kimolos tanker between Ceyhan and Ashkelon, with eight of them occurring after Turkey announced its embargo in May. Despite the ship turning off its tracking signal for several days in the Eastern Mediterranean to mask its route, the researchers managed to identify it as docking in Israel 10 times using satellite imagery. Port logs for the Kimolos reveal that on a typical trip to Israel, the tanker is registered as being bound for Egypt, leaving with a full load of oil. But the tanker does not dock in Egypt, instead 'disappearing' for a few days in the Eastern Mediterranean. This strategy follows a similar pattern to that of the Seavigour, which also turned off its location transponder and reappeared in Sicily days later. The Turkish energy ministry has repeatedly denied that any oil tankers bound for Israel have left Ceyhan since May, stating that 'companies transporting oil through the BTC pipeline for export to global markets from Haydar Aliyev Terminal have respected Turkiye's recent decision not to engage in trade with Israel'. Middle East Eye previously reported that the advocacy group Oil Change International, which authored a report tracking oil shipments to Israel up until July 2024, said its data sources showed multiple shipments from Ceyhan since May. A Turkish official previously told MEE that BP sells oil to intermediary companies, which Ankara cannot control, and tankers pick up the oil "without declaring their final destination".
Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Israel's war on Palestinians will not end until the apartheid system is dismantled
More than 600 days into what many now call a "genocide war" in Gaza, even staunch supporters of Israel are beginning to question its motives. Some have started using the term "genocide" to describe Israel's actions. Yet focusing solely on Gaza obscures a broader, long-standing strategy - one targeting the Occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Palestinians inside Israel's pre-1967 borders. To oppose genocide effectively, it is not enough to condemn what is happening in Gaza. We must also reject the systematic dehumanisation, dispossession and legal discrimination that Israel enforces against Palestinians everywhere. Western commentators such as Piers Morgan and former White House spokesperson Matthew Miller were slow to criticise Israel's conduct in Gaza, even as their platforms helped justify it for months. Their delayed condemnation reveals a deeply entrenched presumption: Israel is "right until proven wrong", while Palestinians are "wrong until proven otherwise". This imbalance stems from colonial privilege and Israel's near-total control over Palestinian life - from the river to the sea. By controlling every aspect of life, including electricity, water, movement and economic access, Israel reshapes Palestinian communities to serve its own interests and directly manipulates Palestinian politics. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters And in this regard, it is crucial to return to the beginning. Blueprint for control The term "Gaza Strip" only emerged after the Nakba of 1948. Before that, there was the Gaza District, which covered approximately 1,196 sq km. After the Nakba, it was reduced to just 365 sq km - less than one-quarter of its original size. The model of siege, deprivation and periodic warfare has been viewed as a blueprint for civilian control, and it drew virtually no meaningful international sanctions Before 1948, the Gaza District was home to 150,000 Palestinians. Following the Nakba, the population of the newly formed Gaza Strip swelled to 280,000 - 80,000 of them original residents, and another 200,000 refugees who had fled from elsewhere. For Israel, Gaza came to represent the logic of "minimum land with maximum Arabs", in order to secure "maximum land for minimum Jews". In the decades that followed - especially after the Oslo Accords - Gaza was transformed into a closed system. Calorie rations were kept at subsistence levels, electricity and water were tightly controlled, and movement was heavily restricted. From 2008 through to September 2023, Israel launched four major military assaults on Gaza, killing around 6,300 Palestinians. Despite the scale of destruction, no senior Israeli political or military official has ever been held accountable. This model of siege, deprivation and periodic warfare has been viewed as a blueprint for civilian control, and it drew virtually no meaningful international sanctions. Follow Middle East Eye's live coverage of the Israel-Palestine war The architect of this strategy was then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. His 2005 Disengagement Plan was rooted in demographic calculations. With more than one million Palestinians and just 9,000 settlers in Gaza, the economic and political cost of direct military rule had become untenable. During meetings with US officials in 2004, Sharon made clear that he expected American backing for expanding settlements in the West Bank in exchange for withdrawal from Gaza. And that is precisely what happened. The number of settlers in the West Bank increased from 250,000 to 500,000, not including those in East Jerusalem. Legislated supremacy At the same time, under successive Likud governments, a raft of legislation was passed to erode the civil rights of Palestinian citizens of Israel. The 2011 Nakba Law authorised the finance minister to withhold public funds from institutions that commemorate the Nakba. The 2017 Kaminitz Law gave the state sweeping powers to demolish "unauthorised" structures - disproportionately impacting Palestinian towns. The 2018 Nation-State Law made Hebrew Israel's sole official language, downgraded Arabic to a "special status", and affirmed that only Jewish settlements merit state support. More recent laws have empowered Israeli authorities to deport the family members of alleged "terrorists" without due process, and to criminalise any public expression deemed sympathetic to Palestinian resistance. Cumulatively, these laws entrench a racialised hierarchy of citizenship that privileges Jewish lives over Palestinian ones. Expanding conquest In late 2024 and early 2025, the Knesset approved a wave of building permits that enabled the seizure of both state-owned and privately held Palestinian land around Hebron - a scale of expansion not seen since 2007. In Hebron alone, around 5,000 olive trees were uprooted. Jenin and Nur Shams refugee camps were razed. Between October 2023 and mid-2025, Israeli forces killed roughly 900 Palestinians and arrested nearly 14,000 in the West Bank - many held without charge under sweeping administrative detention orders. Why Israel is accelerating its expansionist plan in the Naqab Read More » Israeli authorities also demolished at least 227 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem and other Palestinian towns inside Israel during that same period, citing minor zoning violations to justify large-scale demolitions. Meanwhile, under the pretext of "developing the Negev (Naqab)", Israel revived the 2011 Mokedim ("Focal Points") plan in 2024. Tens of thousands of dunams have since been slated for confiscation, threatening the homes of around 85,000 Bedouin citizens. The plan seeks to forcibly concentrate Bedouin communities into state-recognised townships while bulldozing so-called "unrecognised villages". Israel's current posture is not merely a reaction to the events of 7 October 2023. It is the latest expression of a century-long campaign to dehumanise and criminalise Palestinians. This narrative has been widely accepted in western media and politics, conditioning global audiences to side with Israel regardless of its actions. It took almost two years of daily images documenting Gaza's devastation for the world to finally shift its stance. But Gaza is not a "bug" in Israel's system - it is a feature. It is a demonstration of the extreme measures Israel is willing to deploy against any Palestinian population. Designed brutality The genocide in Gaza is not an aberration - it is the logic of the system laid bare. One cannot condemn what is happening in Gaza while ignoring everything else Israel has done to the Palestinian people. Some Israeli political factions, and their international allies, now realise the scale of the disaster can no longer go unnoticed - that accountability may be inevitable. And so they have moved to the damage-control phase. This is not about fits of rage but a system built to distort reality and preserve Israeli and Jewish supremacy Precisely for this reason, it is more urgent than ever to remind the world that this system will continue unless it is dismantled. Anyone who truly opposes genocide must also oppose the structures of Israeli control over Palestinians everywhere. This is not about "fits of rage" or temporary moments of excess. It is about a system designed to distort and forcibly reshape reality in order to preserve Israeli and Jewish supremacy over Palestinians. Now, as during the Second Intifada, with elections on the horizon, more Israeli voices will speak out against Netanyahu - not out of opposition to the war itself, but because the international backlash has grown too costly. Fearing sanctions and international boycotts, they will try to engineer an "Oslo 2.0" - a "peace process" filled with promises, yet like its predecessor, ultimately designed to entrench control after the genocide in Gaza. And so, the next Palestinian disaster becomes only a matter of time. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Middle East Eye
4 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
UK: Palestine and climate activists urge government to secure release of Madleen crew
A coalition of Palestinian solidarity and climate justice groups are staging an 'emergency demonstration' outside the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to demand the government secures the release of the detained crew aboard a charity vessel which was carrying aid to Gaza. The Madleen, whose 12-strong crew includes climate activist Greta Thunberg, was delivering a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula, to Gaza with the intention of breaking Israel's siege on the territory. It was intercepted by Israeli forces at around 3am on Monday, who detained the crew. The Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which operates the vessel, accused Israel of 'forcibly intercepting' the boat and acting with 'total impunity'. It said in a statement that the boat was 'unlawfully boarded', its crew 'abducted' and its cargo confiscated by Israeli forces in international waters in the early hours of Monday morning. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters The protest was organised by a broad coalition of Palestinian and climate groups, including Fossil Free London, and calls on the UK government to push for the release of the activists. They argue that under international maritime law, the UK has full jurisdiction over the vessel and a legal duty to protect the crew as the boat is British flagged. Israel orders military to stop aid boat with Greta Thunberg reaching Gaza Read More » "As a vessel flying the British flag, it falls under the jurisdiction and responsibility of the UK government, which has a legal duty to defend 'Madleen' and the civilians on board, and to prevent unlawful interference - including any threat or use of force - by foreign powers such as Israel,' the FFC said in a statement published on X. It added that any attack or interference with the boat would 'constitute a violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)' as well as an 'affront to UK sovereignty, and a breach of international humanitarian law'. Shortly before communication with the boat was lost, a photo was circulated on social media showing the activists with their hands up in the air, wearing life jackets. Before their arrest, crew aboard the FFC said that quadcopters surrounded the aid ship and sprayed it with a "white liquid". A series of pre-recorded messages by the activists were also released. 'If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces,' Thunberg said. The Israeli foreign ministry said the crew were being taken to Israel and 'were expected to return to their home countries', posting an image of Thunberg being offered a sandwich. "The show is over," the ministry added. Huwaida Arraf, the co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement that is supporting the flotilla, said that Israel has "no legal authority" to detain the Madleen crew. 'These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalized for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade - their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately," Arraf said in a statement. President Emmanuel Macron requested that the six French activists aboard the boat "be allowed to return to France as soon as possible", an unnamed French official told AFP.
