Omar Alothmani and Rania Abu Shamala
12 March 2025•Update: 12 March 2025
ISTANBUL
The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) held talks Wednesday in Qatar on Arab support for the Palestinian people.
The meeting, also attended by Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Hussein Al-Sheikh, aimed to "coordinate efforts regarding developments related to the Palestinian issue," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Discussions focused on "ways to align the Arab stance” and reviewed the outcomes of a recent emergency Arab summit in Cairo and an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah regarding support for the Palestinians, it said.
The statement said the meeting addressed "strategies for promoting and securing funding for the Arab-Islamic early recovery and reconstruction plan for Gaza.”
In a separate statement, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said: “The State of Qatar hosted a meeting today that brought together a number of Arab foreign ministers, with the participation of the U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East, to discuss the developments in the Gaza Strip and the region.”
The Arab foreign ministers presented the reconstruction plan for the Gaza Strip, which was approved at the Arab Summit in Cairo in early March, added the ministry statement.
They also agreed with the US envoy “to continue consultations and coordination on this plan as a basis for the reconstruction efforts in the sector,” it said.
The Arab diplomats emphasized “the importance of establishing a ceasefire in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories, stressing the need for genuine efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution, ensuring the fulfillment of the Palestinian people's aspirations for freedom and independence.”
They reiterated their “commitment to maintaining dialogue to reinforce the ceasefire and to work jointly to establish security, stability, and peace in the region, through intensified diplomatic efforts and coordination with various regional and international parties,” it added.
The Arab summit and OIC meeting approved a comprehensive Arab plan to rebuild Gaza without displacing its Palestinian residents. The plan is expected to take five years to complete, with an estimated cost of around $53 billion.
The Arab proposal came after US President Donald Trump's plan to "take over" Gaza and resettle Palestinians to develop it into a tourist destination. The idea was rejected by the Arab world and many other nations, who say it amounts to ethnic cleansing.
More than 48,500 people have been killed, mostly women and children, in a brutal Israeli war on Gaza since October 2023. The onslaught was paused under the ceasefire and prisoner swap deal, which took hold in January.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
