RIYADH: Arab Foreign Ministers held on Thursday a preparatory meeting for the extraordinary Arab Summit, due in Riyadh on Saturday, with Kuwait represented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The top diplomats would discuss means of ending the Zionist entity’s aggression on Gaza Strip, which killed over 10,000 people and injured many more. The meeting aims at preparing one draft resolution about the Zionist entity’s aggression on Gaza and would be submitted to the Arab leaders, Hussam Zaki, Arab League Assistant Secretary General, said in a statement. He said Arab leaders would have a united position regarding the Zionist entity’s aggression, and how the Arab countries act to stop it, as well as condemning the Zionist entity’s crimes against the Palestinian people.

Thursday’s meeting was chaired by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and attended by Arab Foreign Ministers, and Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Abul Gheit. Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Sheikh Salem stressed on Thursday the importance of immediate end of Zionist entity’s crimes in Gaza.

During his meeting with his British counterpart James Cleverly, on the sidelines of the preparatory meeting ahead of extraordinary Arab Summit Saturday, Sheikh Salem also called for joining international efforts to deliver humanitarian aid into Gaza without escalating the situation.

Both sides tackled latest alarming developments in the Gaza Strip and ways to end crimes committed against the Palestinian people. The top diplomat affirmed Kuwait’s strong position in supporting the Palestinian people and their right of having their independence, as well as reaching a fair and permanent solution to the issue.

Saudi Arabia is hosting Arab leaders and Iran’s president for two summits this weekend on the ongoing war in Gaza, which is raising fears of a regional escalation. The emergency meetings of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation come after over one month of Zionist entity’s bombardment that has killed more than 10,000 people in Gaza, many of them children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

With Zionist entity’s leaders rebuffing talk of a ceasefire, anger in Saudi Arabia over the Palestinian death toll comes amid worries the war could destabilize the wider region and fears this could thwart the kingdom’s attempts to transition the economy away from oil.

Saudi analysts said the Arab League meeting Saturday would do well to go beyond statements condemning attacks on Gaza’s civilians, though it was unclear how the bloc might shape events on the ground. “This (Arab League) meeting will be a success if it leads to any framework to pressure Zionist entity to stop the war. Otherwise it will not be a success,” said Saudi analyst Sulaiman Al-Oqaily.

“The urgent need now is to stop the war.”

Saudi Arabia, home to the holiest sites in Islam, has voiced support for the Palestinian cause while denouncing incidents like the Zionist entity bombing last week of Gaza’s largest refugee camp which killed dozens of people.

The back-to-back summits in Riyadh could signal the start of a higher-profile diplomatic push, with Saudi Arabia taking advantage of its position as a historic champion of Palestinians combined with its interest in potentially recognizing Zionist entity one day.

Saudi Arabia is “trying to strategically position itself above the fray”, said Bader Al-Saif at Kuwait University. “I think it’s very smartly trying to position itself for the day after—how are we going to use this to the best advantage not only for Saudi national interests, which is front-and-center, but also to advance a sane Palestinian-Zionist entity peace process.”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s expected attendance at the OIC summit on Sunday will bring an unusual level of attention to the 57-member bloc of Muslim-majority countries. It will be Raisi’s first trip to Saudi Arabia since a surprise, China-brokered rapprochement deal announced in March ended seven years of severed bilateral ties. Because the OIC’s membership extends from Africa to Asia, any statement coming out of Sunday’s summit could also underscore how support for Palestinians is growing well beyond the Middle East, said Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian.

“Non-Western countries are not accepting this any longer and not buying the American narrative, the Western narrative” of the conflict, he said. –Agencies