{"id":308113,"date":"2025-03-17T09:24:46","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T13:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=308113"},"modified":"2025-06-05T09:25:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T13:25:31","slug":"statement-issued-by-the-ministerial-council-of-the-cooperation-council-for-the-arab-states-of-the-gulf-during-its-163rd-session-letter-from-kuwait","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/statement-issued-by-the-ministerial-council-of-the-cooperation-council-for-the-arab-states-of-the-gulf-during-its-163rd-session-letter-from-kuwait\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement issued by the Ministerial Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf during its 163rd session – Letter from Kuwait"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Letter dated 17 March 2025 from the Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I have the honour to attach herewith the final statement issued by the Ministerial Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf during its 163rd session, held on 6 March 2025, in Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (see annex).<\/p>\n

It would be highly appreciated if the present letter and its annex could be circulated as a document of the Security Council.<\/p>\n

(Signed<\/em>) Tareq M. A. M. Albanai<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ambassador<\/p>\n

Permanent Representative<\/p>\n

\n

Annex to the letter dated 17 March 2025 from the Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Final statement issued by the Ministerial Council at its 163rd session<\/strong><\/p>\n

6 March 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mecca \u2013 Kingdom of Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n

The Ministerial Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) held its 163rd session on Thursday, 6 Ramadan A.H. 1446, corresponding to 6 March 2025, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in the city of Mecca, presided over by His Excellency Abdullah Ali Abdullah Al-Yahya, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait and Chair of the current session of the Ministerial Council. Participants included the following:<\/p>\n

His Excellency Khalifa Shaheen Al Marar<\/p>\n

Minister of State, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United Arab Emirates<\/p>\n

His Excellency Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani<\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain<\/p>\n

His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud<\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n

His Excellency Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi<\/p>\n

Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Sultanate of Oman<\/p>\n

His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani<\/p>\n

Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar<\/p>\n

Also taking part in the meeting was His Excellency Jasim Muhammad Abdullah al-Budaywi, Secretary-General of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.<\/p>\n

The Ministerial Council commended the outcome of the extraordinary Arab summit (the Palestine summit) held on 4 March 2025 in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt, to discuss dangerous recent developments in the Palestinian question, and affirmed the contents of the statement issued by that summit.<\/p>\n

\/…<\/p>\n

The situation in Gaza<\/strong><\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. The Ministerial Council affirmed its support for the brotherly Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and other areas. It stressed the need to put an end to the blockade on the Gaza Strip, alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians and ensure the delivery of all humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians. It called for civilians to be protected and not to be targeted, and for compliance with international law and international humanitarian law without exception.<\/li>\n
  2. The Ministerial Council affirmed GCC support for the steadfast devotion of the Palestinian people of their land. It rejected attempts to displace the population of the Gaza Strip as blatant violations of international law and international humanitarian law, and called for international protection for the Palestinian people.<\/li>\n
  3. The Ministerial Council condemned the Israeli occupation government\u2019s decision of 2 March 2025 to bar the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, which was a grave violation of the ceasefire agreement, international humanitarian law and the Fourth Geneva Convention. It called on the international community to put a stop to these serious Israeli violations, mobilize international accountability mechanisms, and ensure sustainable access to aid.<\/li>\n
  4. The Ministerial Council condemned statements by Israeli officials regarding the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, which were in blatant violation of the rules of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.<\/li>\n
  5. The Ministerial Council commended efforts by the State of Qatar, the Arab Republic of Egypt and the United States of America to bring about a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip. It stressed the need for compliance with the agreement, an end to the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, and a full withdrawal from the Strip and all Palestinian territories. It expressed its hope that the agreement would lead to a permanent ceasefire and allow delivery of humanitarian aid without delay and without interruption. It called on the international community to pressure Israel to fulfil its obligations in that connection.<\/li>\n
  6. The Ministerial Council welcomed the joint statement issued by the Arab Six-Party Meeting on Palestine in Cairo on 1 February 2025, which stressed the importance of maintaining the ceasefire and ensuring that humanitarian support reached all parts of the Gaza Strip; expressed its full support for the steadfast devotion of the Palestinian people to their land and their legitimate rights under international law; rejected any compromise of those inalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, eviction and home demolition, land annexation, displacing owners from their land, or encouraging the transfer or removal of Palestinians from their land in any form, under any circumstances and on any pretext.<\/li>\n
  7. The Ministerial Council called for the implementation of resolutions 2712 (2023)<\/a><\/em> and 2720 (2023)<\/a><\/em> regarding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the release of the hostages, a prisoner exchange, the return of civilians to their homes, the safe and effective distribution of humanitarian aid at scale, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Strip. It welcomed the General Assembly resolution of 5 December 2024 demanding a ceasefire in Gaza; demanding unhindered access for the civilian population in the Gaza Strip to basic services and humanitarian assistance; calling for compliance with international law and international humanitarian law and protection of civilians; rejecting any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including any actions that reduce the territory of the Gaza Strip; and stressing the importance of unifying the Gaza Strip with the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority.<\/li>\n
  8. In that connection, the Ministerial Council stressed that Israel must bear full responsibility for its violations and attacks against the Gaza Strip, which had resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians, most of them women and children. These were war crimes and crimes against humanity under international humanitarian law.<\/li>\n
  9. The Ministerial Council called upon the international community to take the necessary measures in the context of international law to respond to the practices of the Israeli Government and the policy of collective punishment against the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip.<\/li>\n
  10. The Ministerial Council condemned in the strongest terms the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip in the course of carrying out their genocide and ethnic cleansing, including the killing of civilians, torture, field executions, disappearances, forced deportations and looting. It called on the Security Council to form an independent international commission to investigate those crimes, and for serious steps to prevent them, hold perpetrators accountable, and provide international protection for the Palestinian people.<\/li>\n
  11. The Ministerial Council condemned the destruction by Israeli forces of residential neighbourhoods, hospitals, schools, universities, mosques, churches and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, including the massacre committed by the Israeli occupation forces in the Nusayrat camp on 13 December 2024, the burning of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2024, and the subsequent evacuation of all patients and medical staff.<\/li>\n
  12. The Ministerial Council condemned the Israeli occupation forces\u2019 targeting of humanitarian and United Nations organizations in the Gaza Strip and Israeli settler attacks on humanitarian aid convoys. It stressed the responsibility of the Israeli occupation forces under international humanitarian law to protect these convoys, to ensure delivery of the necessary humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, and not to obstruct the work of international organizations.<\/li>\n
  13. The Ministerial Council affirmed its support for the Palestinian-Egyptian Arab plan adopted by the extraordinary Arab \u201cPalestine summit\u201d held on 4 March 2025 in Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt. It stressed that the future of the Gaza Strip must include a unified Palestinian State and implementation of the two-State solution. The Council also welcomed that summit\u2019s call for an international conference for recovery and reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. It urged the international community and all brotherly and friendly countries to take active and generous part in a reconstruction donor conference to be held at the earliest opportunity, and to mobilize the necessary resources to implement a plan in cooperation with the Palestinian Government and relevant international parties. It stressed the importance of the steadfastness of the Palestinian people and its inclusion in the reconstruction efforts.<\/li>\n
  14. The Ministerial Council emphasized the need to open all Gaza Strip crossings to the entry of humanitarian aid, and to ensure access for any investigation or fact-finding committee looking into allegations of genocide. It stressed the importance of international decisions being applicable to all Palestinian areas, in accordance with the relevant international resolutions. It reiterated its call on the international community to shoulder its responsibility to put a stop to Israeli aggression.<\/li>\n
  15. The Ministerial Council called upon the Security Council to adopt a binding resolution under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations that would ensure compliance by the occupying Israeli forces with a permanent ceasefire, halt the genocide and forced displacement of the Palestinian people and ensure the entry of humanitarian aid and the resumption of normal life in the Gaza Strip.<\/li>\n
  16. The Ministerial Council welcomed the outcomes of the ministerial conference to enhance the humanitarian response in the Gaza Strip, held in the Arab Republic of Egypt on 2 December 2024. That conference emphasized the need to strengthen the humanitarian response immediately and effectively to meet the basic needs of the population in the Gaza Strip. The Ministerial Council stressed the importance of increasing humanitarian assistance, including food, water, medical supplies, fuel and shelter, to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.<\/li>\n
  17. The Ministerial Council hailed the political efforts of GCC and Arab States to halt the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and applauded the humanitarian assistance and relief provided by GCC States to the Gaza Strip and the popular campaigns to provide relief to the Palestinian people and deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged population.<\/li>\n
  18. The Ministerial Council stressed the importance of the call in the declaration of the extraordinary Arab \u201cPalestine summit\u201d for the establishment of an international fund to care for Gaza orphans in cooperation with the United Nations.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    The Palestinian cause<\/strong><\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. The Ministerial Council reaffirmed the centrality of the Palestinian cause and the need to end the Israeli occupation, and it reiterated its support for the sovereignty of the Palestinian people over all occupied Palestinian territories. The Council called upon all States to complete the process of recognizing the State of Palestine and take urgent collective action to arrive at a permanent solution that ensured the establishment of an independent Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital, along the 1967 borders, in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative and international resolutions. The Council reiterated that cooperation between international and regional forces should be stepped up, and the international community must redouble its efforts to resolve the conflict in a manner that guarantees all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.<\/li>\n
    2. The Ministerial Council reaffirmed the importance of the initiatives that were announced by His Majesty the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, at the thirty-third Arab summit, which was held in the Kingdom of Bahrain, calling for the convening of an international peace conference in the Middle East to establish a national, independent, secure and sovereign Palestinian State, and for lending support to efforts aimed at securing recognition for the State of Palestine at the international level and its full membership of the United Nations. The Council reiterated the call made at the summit for the deployment of international protection and peacekeeping forces under the aegis of the United Nations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory until the two-State solution was implemented.<\/li>\n
    3. The Ministerial Council welcomed the recognition by 146 countries so far of the State of Palestine and its sovereignty over its territory. It expressed its appreciation for the leading role of the Kingdom of Spain in that connection and called on all countries to take the necessary measures to recognize the State of Palestine and support the national rights of the Palestinian people.<\/li>\n
    4. The Ministerial Council affirmed the importance of the call in the declaration of the extraordinary Arab \u201cPalestine summit\u201d for deployment of international protection and peacekeeping forces in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank, by decision of the Security Council.<\/li>\n
    5. The Ministerial Council affirmed support for the efforts of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, and for the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in partnership with the Kingdom of Norway and the European Union, to fix a timetable for realizing an independent Palestinian State and ending the Israeli occupation. The Council welcomed the outcomes of the third meeting held in Oslo on 15 January 2025, and the fourth meeting held in Cairo on 17 February 2025; it called on all countries that desired peace to join that initiative.<\/li>\n
    6. The Ministerial Council welcomed the decision of the General Assembly to convene a high-level international conference to reach a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian issue and implement the two-State solution, to be held at the United Nations headquarters in New York in June 2025, chaired by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and France. It stressed the importance of active participation in this conference and support for the activities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in that connection.<\/li>\n
    7. The Ministerial Council affirmed its support for the efforts of the ministerial committee headed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia formed by the extraordinary joint Arab and Islamic summit to put a stop to the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and set forth a recovery and reconstruction plan in Gaza. It also affirmed the importance of the Arab ministerial committee on support for the State of Palestine headed by the Kingdom of Bahrain to continue its work by acting at the international level to support efforts by the State of Palestine to gain more recognitions, obtain full membership in the United Nations, promote the convening of an international peace conference, and have international protection provided to the Palestinian people.<\/li>\n
    8. The Ministerial Council affirmed its support for a conference of contracting parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, scheduled to be held in Switzerland on 7\u00a0March 2025, to discuss the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.<\/li>\n
    9. The Ministerial Council welcomed General Assembly resolution 79\/232<\/a><\/em> requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the Israeli decision to ban the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from operating in the occupied territories. Given the critical humanitarian conditions, it stressed the importance of supporting that Agency, which played a major role in supporting relief, humanitarian and development efforts for the Palestinian people.<\/li>\n
    10. The Ministerial Council welcomed General Assembly resolution ES-10\/25<\/a><\/em>, in which the Assembly affirmed its full support for the mandate of UNRWA in all its fields of operation, and underscored the imperative of reparations for all losses, damage and destruction sustained by the Agency.<\/li>\n
    11. The Ministerial Council condemned the Israeli Government decision of 28\u00a0January 2025 banning UNRWA operations. It called on the United Nations to fulfil its responsibilities under international law and compel the occupying Power to reverse that decision and ensure that the Agency could continue to provide services to Palestinian refugees.<\/li>\n
    12. The Ministerial Council welcomed the appointment of Sigrid Kaag of the Netherlands as Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority a.i., as part of ongoing efforts by the United Nations to enhance its role in bringing about a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.<\/li>\n
    13. The Ministerial Council praised efforts made by Arab countries to bring about national reconciliation to restore Palestinian national unity, reunite the Palestinian people, and realize the interests of the Palestinian people.<\/li>\n
    14. The Ministerial Council commended the adoption by the General Assembly on 13 September 2024 of a resolution on ending the illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territories and a resolution affirming that Palestine qualifies for full membership of the United Nations. It called upon the Security Council to quickly adopt a resolution granting the State of Palestine full membership of the United Nations.<\/li>\n
    15. The Ministerial Council called upon the international community to intervene in order to stop the targeting of Palestinians in Jerusalem, the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes, attempts to change the city\u2019s legal and historical character, demographic composition and the situation of its Islamic holy sites, and attempts to impose Israeli sovereignty over it, in clear violation of international law, international resolutions and existing agreements in that regard. The Council emphasized that it rejected such unilateral measures.<\/li>\n
    16. The Ministerial Council condemned continued construction by Israel of settlement units in the occupied Palestinian territories and the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes. It expressed its rejection of any move to annex settlements in the West Bank to Israel, which would be a clear violation of the Charter of the United Nations; the principles of international law and United Nations resolutions, including Security Council Resolution 2334 (2016)<\/a>; the 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice; and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. It called on the international community to put pressure on the Israeli authorities to reverse their settlement decisions, which violated international laws and resolutions.<\/li>\n
    17. The Ministerial Council condemned the Israeli occupation\u2019s claims and allegations in connection with a published map that showed parts of Arab countries (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria) falling within its borders. It warned that the publication of such fraudulent maps would undermine chances for peace in the region.<\/li>\n
    18. The Ministerial Council condemned continued Israeli occupation attacks in the West Bank, including the shelling of the town of Tammun on 29 January 2025, and the shelling of the city of Jenin on 23 January 2025, and its systematic destruction of infrastructure. It called on the international community to exert efforts to prevent further loss of life and avoid inflaming the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories further.<\/li>\n
    19. The Ministerial Council commended the decision taken on 16 October 2024 by the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in which it called upon the Israeli occupation Government to halt all unilateral measures aimed at changing the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and the city\u2019s holy sites, and in which it deemed those measures to be null and void.<\/li>\n
    20. The Ministerial Council condemned the blatant incursion by the Israeli national security minister into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque under the protection of the occupation authorities on 26 December 2024, in violation of Security Council resolutions, in particular resolution 2334 (2016)<\/a><\/em>. The Council also condemned the repeated incursions by Israeli settlers and officials into the courtyards of the blessed Aqsa Mosque, as those incursions were a serious violation of international law, the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem and the city\u2019s holy sites and the sanctity of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as acts of provocation that inflamed the feelings of Muslims. It stressed that the ongoing violations and attacks against holy sites aggravated tensions and would lead to an endless cycle of violence.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \/…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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