HH The Amir Speech at the 28th Arab Summit
In the name of Allah The Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,
Your Majesty, Brother, King Abdullah II Ibn Al-Hussein,
Brethren, Your Majesties, Excellencies and Highnesses,
Your Excellency the Secretary-General of the Arab League,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Al-Salamau Alikum Wa Rahamatu Allah Wa Barakatuh,
At the outset, I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to His Majesty, brother, King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and to the people and Government of the brotherly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for their warm welcome, cordial hospitality and efforts made to make this summit a success.
I would also like to extend my profound thanks and appreciation to His Excellency, brother, President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, for his sincere and appreciated efforts during his presidency of the previous Summit.
The gravity of the stage that our pan-Arab homeland and the whole region are going through, and the obstacles in the way of realising the aspirations of our peoples in development, security and stability require a lot from us in terms of realism, frankness, awareness, and conformity of words and deeds to spare our Arab ummah these dangers. A genuine Arab solidarity is an auxiliary factor in achieving these aspirations, while its absence has negative effects.
The differences in our visions and attitudes towards some political issues facing our ummah have led to negative effects on other non-political areas of cooperation. This indicates that the problem does not always lie in the disagreement itself, but in how to tackle it, and in the spillover of a political dispute to everything else.
In fact, we can unify visions and confront various challenges and surpass the current situations, since there are no intractable differences or disagreements between brothers, and even if some happened, despite all efforts, they should not impact the areas of cooperation that are of interest to our citizens and our societies.
Honourable Audience,
The Palestinian cause remains at the forefront of our priorities in spite of the fact that the peace process reached a deadlock due to the intransigent positions of the Israeli government, its breaches of its commitments and pledges and its attempts to impose a fait accompli, with intensifying building of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Judaization of Jerusalem, which pose a threat to regional and global stability and security.
We are required to jointly and seriously act to put pressure on the international community and the Security Council to reject the inception of an apartheid system in the 21st century, and to deal firmly with Israel to force it to stop building settlements, implement international legitimacy resolutions, end the continuous violations against the Palestinian people and lift the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, which prevents its inhabitants from maintaining a normal life, and to get it to engage in time-bound serious negotiations based on clear-cut principles rather than negotiations for the sake of negotiations intended for baffling and time-wasting or exploiting that for building settlements.
The firm stance of the State of Qatar on the Palestinian issue reflects the committed Arab stance that the peace process be based on a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement in accordance with international legitimacy and the Arab peace initiative based on the principle of a two-State solution to ensure the establishment of a Palestinian State on the borders of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return of the Palestinian refugees and the end of Israeli occupation of all Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan.
Unifying the Palestinian ranks is an essential element in ending the occupation. There is no meaning and no point in a dispute over an authority that is devoid of sovereignty, in light of the occupation of the Palestinian territories, as no Palestinian State shall be founded without Gaza, and no State in Gaza shall be established either.
Therefore, the State of Qatar is pursuing its efforts to end the state of division and restore unity to the national Palestinian action, in accordance with the Doha and Cairo accords. We call on all Palestinian leaders to be endowed with wisdom and give priority to the supreme national interest by ending divisions, and setting up a government of national unity to carry out the constitutional and executive tasks for restoring national unity to enable the Palestinian people to achieve their legitimate aspirations for freedom and independence and build their independent State with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Honourable Brothers,
While welcoming the cease-fire agreement in Syria, we stress the significance of acting to make it real and not a selective one that allows for displacements, in order to alleviate the suffering of the brotherly Syrian people, ensure the safety of civilians and speed up human aid access, since a lasting and comprehensive cease-fire represents a step towards the desired political solution.
We also firmly reassert that putting an end to the disaster of the brotherly Syrian people depends on adopting actions and decisions that bind the Syrian regime to implement the Geneva Conference (1) resolutions which stipulate the formation of a transitional governing body with full authorities, as well as the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy, which meet the aspirations of the Syrian people and allow them to determine their future according to their choices.
The Syrian regime must be forced to implement Security Council Resolution 2336, which renewed the call to allow the humanitarian agencies rapid, safe and unhindered access to all areas in Syria.
In this context, we the Arabs must continue carrying out our humanitarian duties towards the brotherly Syrian people in areas of refuge inside Syria and areas of immigration outside, and deal in a manner that is required by brotherly relations with a great people who were exposed to a suffering that is unprecedented by any people in the modern time; yet they have remained steadfast and maintained their dignity.
I must also express appreciation to Jordan and Lebanon for their immense efforts made to host their Syrian brothers.
We must not forget that the Syrian people have not been displaced by a natural disaster, but because the regime launched an all-out war against them, historically unprecedented, simply because they expressed their aspirations for freedom and dignity, turning the peaceful revolution into a civil war. Therefore, it is not possible to separate our humanitarian and political duty towards this people.
Dear Brothers,
The situation in sisterly Libya makes it incumbent on us to intensify our efforts and to work together in accordance with a unified vision to urge the Libyan brethren and prompt them to surpass their disputes, and give priority to the supreme national interest to conclude the agreed steps of the Libyan political accord, which has gained a regional and international consensus, and continue to support the legitimate national reconciliation government to fulfil all its tasks in putting an end to the suffering of the brotherly Libyan people, confronting the threat of terrorist organisations and restoring security and stability to Libya.
The Libyan brothers have no choice other than dialogue, consensus, and adherence to the outcome of the political accord signed in Skhirat, and moving forward on the path of political settlement to include all political forces in Libya without exclusion; with the rejection of both chaos and the reinstatement of dictatorship, which are two sides of the same coin.
In this context, some of the brothers in Libya must refrain from using pretexts to avoid participating in the final political solution because of differences of opinion, personal interests, disputes over leadership and narcissism. These matters should not constitute an obstacle when the destiny of their country is in the balance.
Building of the State and its institutions is the major challenge facing Libya. This is the mission! The national responsibility is to be measured now by contributing to this effort. Under this criterion, the attitude towards the active forces in Libya is determined.
On the basis of the close brotherly ties between the State of Qatar and the brotherly State of Libya and its people, I affirm the commitment of the State of Qatar to continue supporting the Libyan brothers and helping them overcome their differences and make the path of political settlement a success.
Concerning Yemen, and as part of the Arab alliance, we reaffirm our commitment to the unity, territorial integrity and independence of Yemen, and our support for the constitutional legitimacy vested in His Excellency President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
We also reaffirm our support for the mission of the United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen and the efforts to resume the political consultations to reach a political settlement according to the terms of reference of the Gulf Initiative, the Yemeni national dialogue outcomes and the resolutions of international legitimacy.
Dear Brothers,
Terrorism still remains one of the most serious threats to our Arab region that targets its security and stability. Undoubtedly, confronting the perils of terrorist groups and adhering to our faiths and values without radicalism or exaggeration, and without abandonment or negligence, requires us to have a common vision to lead our efforts to promote cooperation, and work to find a joint comprehensive approach, in cooperation with the international community, which includes all political, security, social and cultural dimensions to eradicate this epidemic.
In my view, it is necessary to point out two observations in this respect:
First, if we are serious about focusing efforts on armed terrorist organisations, is it fair to make an effort to brand political movements that we disagree with as terrorist ones, although they are not? Is it a goal for us to increase the number of terrorists in this world?
The fight against terrorism is a strategic issue with social, economic, cultural, and, of course, security dimensions. This issue is too dangerous to be subjected to differences, political interests, and a tug-of-war between the regimes.
Second, terrorism is not confined to a particular religion or creed; there are terrorist militias from different creeds that commit crimes against civilians and civil facilities for political purposes, with the knowledge, and sometimes consent, of their governments. This is typical terrorism.
However, terrorism dwindles and shrinks with human development, including education, participation in the fruits of development, equality before the law, and in the atmosphere of freedom and assuming the responsibility for freedom. Terrorism and extremism thrive in the circumstances of alienation from society and its values, deprivation, despair and deadlocked vistas, as well as the humiliation of people in detention centres and prisons, whether because of occupation or tyranny, in addition to the absence of the rule of law and the spread of exclusion and marginalisation policies.
Radical propaganda that disguises itself under religious cloaks to target young people under these circumstances should not be exonerated.
In this context, I add that we should not be silent when parties and populist forces in the West compete to incite against our Arab and Islamic civilisation and spread the poison of hate against Muslims.
Some politicians may ask us to understand the circumstances of election campaigns, and that they do not mean what they said. But this is an excuse uglier than guilt, because it makes the hatred of Muslims a popular subject.
Your Majesties, Excellencies and Highnesses,
The State of Qatar will keep its pledge not to spare any effort in participating effectively in the joint Arab action to realise the security, stability and sustainable development of our peoples.
In conclusion, I wish this summit all success and to achieve the desired goals that will meet the aspirations of our Arab ummah, and push the joint Arab action forward.
May Allah’s Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon you all.