SAUDI ARABIA WARNS REGION IS ON BRINK OF CATASTROPHE
▶ World leaders in Davos urged to promote stability by ensuring immediate ceasefire in Gaza
Saudi Arabia warned of potentially catastrophic risks if the Israel-Gaza war spills over into the wider Middle East, as the World Economic Forum drew near to its close.
Iraq, meanwhile, said there had been a failure by global institutions to face the crisis. The gathering of business and political leaders was taking place this week against the backdrop of the war, in which more than 24,600 people have been killed, the majority of whom are Palestinian civilians.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US, Princess Reema bint Bandar, said on Thursday that she was very concerned about the violence and warned that a “rogue entity or a mistake” could take the region back to the “stone ages”.
“Our region is a hot and volatile one. We don’t want our grandchildren to say we could have resolved this,” she said.
“How many more children need to die, how many more limbs need to be lost?
“How many more parents need to lose their livelihood? It can’t happen any more.”
The kingdom “condemned violence on both sides”, she said, and it does not condone civilian deaths in any country.
“We must say, ceasefire now,” Princess Reema added. Her calls for a ceasefire were echoed by Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, who accused the international community of failing to stop what he called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
“We are in front of a real genocide for two million Palestinians in crowded areas in Gaza,” Mr Al Sudani said.
“And we are facing the silence of the international community, which only [uses] terms that lead to nothing,” he said. Israel has rejected accusations it is committing genocide against the Palestinians and says it is fighting a war to eliminate the militant Hamas group.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also addressed the war at the summit, but he blamed Iran for the escalation and claimed that his country was fighting
“a war for the entire universe”. The world must confront Iran’s actions in the Middle East “point blank,” he said, alluding to Iran’s support for proxy groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he informed the US that he opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state as part of any postwar scenario.
Mr Netanyahu vowed to press ahead with the offensive until Israel realises a “decisive victory over Hamas”.
Israel’s leadership has come under fire for refusing to commit to a ceasefire.
Israeli lawyers were recently forced to defend the country in the International Court of Justice in The Hague after South Africa brought a case against the country. Mr Herzog accused South Africa of “outrageous behaviour”.
“They basically support the atrocities and the barbarism we have seen on October 7,” he told Davos.
Earlier, Mr Al Sudani accused Mr Netanyahu of “reckless” behaviour that could spread the conflict across the region.
“The world cannot stand behind a reckless person like Netanyahu who has violated all international laws, norms and treaties,” he said.
“Today and after 100 days, the conflict zone has widened to the Red Sea to Lebanon to Syria and to Iraq, and we don’t know where this conflict will stop,” he warned.
“We are fighting a war for the entire universe, for the free world. I always say, if Israel wasn’t there, Europe would be next … the United States, too,” Mr Herzog told the attendees.
Mr Herzog said that the “main issue” facing the forum should be how to confront the Iranbacked Houthi rebels in Yemen. The group has launched
attacks against shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting trade through a major international waterway.
Despite the formation of a USled maritime coalition and four rounds of US air strikes against Houthi positions in Yemen, the militants continue to launch attacks against ships.
The Houthis, who the US re-listed as a terrorist group on Wednesday, say their attacks are in support of the Palestinian people and aimed at halting the war in Gaza.
“A little tribe of 50,000 people is raising prices for everyone in the universe,” said Mr Herzog, as he called for action.
Mr Herzog also said that he still saw a potential for normalising relations with Saudi Arabia as an element of ending the war with Hamas. “It’s still
delicate, it’s fragile, and it will take a long time, but I think that it is actually an opportunity to move forward in the world and the region towards a better future,” Mr Herzog said.
Speaking on a separate panel, Princess Reema said that while the kingdom had extended a “hand for peace” with Israel, it also takes its responsibility towards the Palestinians seriously, and ruled out normalisation with Israel without a solution to the conflict.
While the kingdom recognises Israel’s “right to feel safe”, it should not be “at the expense of the Palestinian people,” she said.
Her comments were in line with those made by Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, at a Davos panel several days before.
He told panellists that the kingdom agreed “regional peace includes peace for Israel,” and said Saudi Arabia “certainly” would recognise Israel as part of a larger political agreement.
“But that can only happen through peace for the Palestinians, through a Palestinian state,” he said.
Mr Herzog said the main issue facing the forum was ending the Houthi attacks on shipping trade in the Red Sea