Rabat – King Mohammed VI has called on Arab leaders and the wider international community to work together to bring about “urgent and tangible de-escalation and stop military attacks to pave the way for a permanent, verifiable ceasefire.”
In delivering a speech at the Arab and Islamic Summit on Saturday, King made sure Mohammed VI to keep with his commitment to peace in his capacity as Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee.
He notably called for “an awakening of the conscience of the international community in order to stop the killing of human beings, and for working together, each from our respective positions, to achieve four urgent priorities.”
The death toll in Gaza and the occupied West Bank has exceeded 10,000 since Israel launched its murderous, punitive war on Gaza on October 7.
The monarch listed the need for a ceasefire as the first step to address the Gaza crisis, adding that the protection of civilians should also be granted in accordance with international law.
The third priority King Mohammed VI listed was the need for the steady delivery of humanitarian aid, in sufficient quantities, to the inhabitants of Gaza.
In particular, he stressed that the international community should support a political settlement of the Palestinian question – “one that can revive the two-state solution agreed by the international community.”
The world faces “an unprecedented crisis,” King Mohammed VI argued, noting that the alarming situation in Gaza has been “made even more complex by Israel’s blatant and continuing aggression against helpless civilians.”
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He further added that the silence of the international community and the fact that the influential powers are ignoring the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip has further compounded the plight of defenseless Palestinians.
“It is incumbent on the international community and on all of us to make sure the future of the region and its people is not left in the hands of those engaging in outbidding tactics,” he said, adding that “when it comes to the future of the region, there can be no room for those tactics, nor for self-serving agendas.”
The Moroccan then stressed that “there is no alternative to genuine peace in the region – peace which guarantees the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people on the basis of the two-state solution.”
For King Mohammed VI, the only viable way out of the current, catastrophic situation is the creation of an “ independent Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital.” The Moroccan monarch also called for “strengthening the Palestinian Authority, under the leadership of President Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen.”
Ending the ongoing Israeli attacks in Palestinian territories and making sure similarly disastrous aggressions do not happen again will be achieved only by stopping the ongoing aggression against Al-Quds Al-Sharif and ending the provocations that hurt the feelings of more than a billion Muslims, he explained.
During his speech, King Mohammed VI also shed light on the numerous initiatives Morocco has undertaken to support the Palestinian cause. “I have always keenly sought, in my capacity as Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, to draw attention to the seriousness of these Israeli practices and provocations, and to the dire consequences they have for security and stability in the entire region,” he said.
Morocco has also been working on the ground, through the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Al-Sharif Agency, to protect the city of Jerusalem and “preserve its historical and legal status as well as the holy, religious sites therein,” he added.
