Arab and Muslim leaders blame West for Gaza misery

Hypocrisy, double standards and a failure to understand the region. These are the charges being levelled at the West, primarily the US, by leaders of 57 Arab and Muslim countries who convened at the weekend in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

How is it, foreign ministers said to me, that the West slams Russia for killing civilians in Ukraine, yet, in their words, it "gives a green light to Israel to do the same in Gaza"?

In the luxurious surroundings of Riyadh's Ritz-Carlton hotel, amid giant floral bouquets and glittering chandeliers, and a world away from the shattered landscape of Gaza, princes, presidents and prime ministers met for the Joint Arab Islamic Extraordinary Summit.

Blame for the war and the destruction of lives and property was heaped unilaterally on Israel and its supporters. No-one criticised Hamas for its 7 October raid into southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw some 240 taken hostage, triggering the massive military retaliation. Israel, said the secretary general of the Arab League, had committed criminal acts.

"We warn of the disastrous repercussions of the retaliatory aggression by Israel against the Gaza Strip, which amounts to a war crime," said the final communique. "We warn of the real danger of the expansion of the war as a result of Israel's refusal to stop its aggression and of the inability of the [UN] Security Council to enforce international law to end this aggression."

Few people I spoke to at the summit expected Israel to take much notice. Instead, it was clear that this summit and its intended message of unity was aimed at Israel's biggest backer - the United States. Leaders want the Biden administration and the West in general to exert sufficient pressure on Israel to stop the war altogether.

But what they could not agree on was how to achieve that. The summit pulled together some strange bedfellows - an indication of just how worried the region is at events in Gaza spiralling beyond their control.

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