Latest news with #FaisalbinFarhanAlSaud
NHK
30-07-2025
- Politics
- NHK
Document at UN conference on two-state solution calls on Hamas to disarm
A UN conference statement has called for the Islamic group Hamas to disarm and for the establishment of a Palestinian state. The conference in New York was aimed at advancing steps toward a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The New York Declaration was released on Tuesday by France and Saudi Arabia, co-chairs of the meeting attended by more than 100 countries. The outcome document says a two-state solution is "the only way to satisfy the legitimate aspirations, in accordance with international law, of both Israelis and Palestinians." It says the Gaza Strip must be unified with the West Bank, and urges Hamas to end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority. The document also calls on Israel's leaders to "immediately halt all settlement, land grabs and annexation activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem." Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said the document guarantees "peace and security for all." He called for support for the text ahead of a new session of the UN General Assembly in September. With Israel and the United States absent from the conference, it is unclear how much support the document will draw. Japan's Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Uemura Tsukasa spoke at the conference on Tuesday. The special representative of the Japanese government said that taking into account the outcomes of the meeting, Japan will "continue a comprehensive assessment of the issue of recognizing Palestinian statehood, including the appropriate timing."
L'Orient-Le Jour
28-07-2025
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
France reaffirms that there is 'no alternative' to a two-state solution
BEIRUT — French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Monday that there is "no alternative to a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine" as he opened a United Nations conference on the issue alongside his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. "Only a political solution based on two states will meet the legitimate aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security. There is no alternative," he said. Asked about the possible imposition of sanctions against Israel, Barrot listed a series of demands for Israel. "We know exactly what conditions Israel must meet. It owes more than $2 billion to the Palestinian Authority and must halt construction in the E1 area [in occupied West Bank] and cancel plans for more than 300 housing units in the West Bank," he said. The minister also called for an end to the operations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supported by the United States and Israel, which he described as a militarized system responsible for "a bloodbath causing more than 1,000 deaths. This cannot continue." According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 1,157 Palestinians have been killed and 7,758 injured by gunfire from the Israeli army or American mercenaries during GHF aid distributions set up since early May. These statements from the head of French diplomacy come just days after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that Paris will soon recognize a Palestinian state, while Israel continues to reject any prospect of a process leading to this outcome by pursuing its destructive war in the Gaza Strip and settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.
Middle East Eye
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Saudi Arabia told US that Syrian forces should deploy to Sweida despite Israeli objections, source says
Saudi Arabia told the US that Syrian security forces should be allowed to deploy to the country's restive south despite Israeli objections, a US official told Middle East Eye. The official, who requested anonymity due to sensitivities around the topic, said that Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday that the kingdom supported Syria's military asserting control in the southern Syrian province of Sweida. A readout of the call provided by the State Department said the two sides "discussed regional security matters, including efforts to end the violence in Syria". It did not provide further details. The US official briefed on the call, and a second source familiar with the diplomacy, told MEE on Friday that the kingdom was "angry" about Israel attacking Syrian soldiers and dictating military deployments to Damascus. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Sweida has been the site of sectarian violence between the majority Druze community and Sunni Bedouins. After bloody fighting broke out on Sunday, the Syrian government deployed troops to Sweida at the request of local authorities, prompting Israel to launch severe strikes against the Syrian army. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then ordered Syria's government not to deploy troops south. When President Ahmed al-Sharaa did, Israel launched strikes on Syrian military convoys. On Wednesday, Israel bombed the Syrian defence ministry and areas near the presidential palace. Current and former US, Arab and Israeli officials told MEE that Netanyahu was seeking to carve out a zone of influence in southern Syria, a development that was unnerving the US's Arab allies and Turkey. In an about-turn on Friday, Israeli media reported, citing an unnamed Israeli official, that it had decided to "allow" the "limited entry" of internal Syrian security forces into Sweida for 48 hours. 'Crystal clear' A separate US official in the region who has been monitoring the Israeli strikes about the change in Israeli posture, told MEE that Israel's push for a zone of influence in Syria's south clashed with a unitary, central Syria that Trump's envoy to the country, and ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, laid out just last week to reporters. "I think Potus and others in the administration have been crystal clear about the path for Syria," the official said, referring to President Trump. Turkey doesn't have many options against Israel in Syria Read More » A second regional source told MEE that the US was upset about the Israeli strikes. Israel's intervention in Sweida has been especially inconvenient to the Trump administration because it comes as the US is pushing the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to submit to Damascus's authority. The US and SDF were allies fighting against the Islamic State militant group, but now Washington wants the Kurdish-led forces to integrate into the Syrian army, as opposed to maintaining an autonomous zone in the northeast. Sharaa, a former leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham and before that al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, led the removal of the country's former president and strongman, Bashar al-Assad, in December 2024. Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and other Arab states issued a statement on Thursday reaffirming their 'unwavering support for Syria's security, unity, stability and sovereignty". The statement said Israel's strikes were a "flagrant assault on Syria's sovereignty" and that they rejected "all forms of foreign intervention in its [Syrian] internal affairs". 'Vested in Sharaa' Saudi Arabia's decision to back Sharaa and assert military authority in Sweida is not surprising. The kingdom hosted a direct meeting between the Syrian president and Trump in Riyadh in May. Trump said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were responsible for convincing him to terminate all sanctions on Syria, again in opposition to what diplomats say Israel preferred. With Damascus strikes, Israel seeks to tear up Trump's vision for Syria Read More » Farhan also spoke with his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, on Wednesday. While Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and Qatar have the funds to support Syria's reconstruction, Sharaa enjoys close ties to Ankara. In April, Israel bombed several Syrian air bases that Turkey was planning to take over to train Sharaa's security forces. 'Saudi Arabia is vested in Syrian stability and reconstruction. That includes in Sharaa,' the US official told MEE. This all comes as Trump says he still wants to broker a normalisation agreement between the US's two partners. MEE was the first to report that Saudi Arabia lobbied Trump to stop attacks on Yemen's Houthis in May. Trump's decision to do so was widely seen as going against Israel.
Yomiuri Shimbun
02-06-2025
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Saudi Arabia Says Israel Shows ‘Extremism' by Blocking West Bank Visit
Reuters Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, attends the Ministerial Committee Assigned by the Joint Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit on Gaza as they meet in Amman, Jordan, June 1, 2025. 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 into 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. Commenting on blocking the visit, Israeli Arab lawmaker Ayman Odeh said the Arab foreign ministers' delegation aimed to end the Gaza war, enhance the Palestinian Authority's role, and support a Saudi-French U.N. initiative to set up a roadmap for a Palestinian state Odeh told Saudi state-owned Al Arabiya Television that the Saudi-French initiative could lead to broader international recognition of a Palestinian state, a move he said contradicts Israeli government policy. According to Odeh, the Israeli government seeks to undermine the Palestinian Authority because it views it as the 'nucleus of the Palestinian state.' He said Israel blocked the Arab foreign ministers' visit because it could have helped strengthen the Palestinian Authority. Israel has come under increasing pressure from the United Nations and European countries that favour a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, under which an independent Palestinian state would exist alongside Israel.
Jordan News
01-06-2025
- Politics
- Jordan News
The Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee Holds Virtual Meeting with President Abbas from Amman - Jordan News
The ministerial delegation appointed by the Joint Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit on Gaza is holding a meeting today in Amman with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas via video conference. اضافة اعلان The delegation includes the Chairman of the Committee, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud; Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan Ayman Safadi; Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani; and Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration, and Expatriate Affairs Dr. Badr Abdelatty. Also joining the meeting via video conference are the Deputy Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Deputy President of the State of Palestine, Hussein Al-Sheikh; the Palestinian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Mohammad Mustafa; and the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Amman.
