Full UN membership key to regional de-escalation, Palestinian President tells D-8 summit

Full Palestinian membership in the United Nations is the key to security and stability in the Middle East region, President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday, Anadolu Agency reports.

Addressing the D-8 summit in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, Abbas said the Palestinian people are facing daily Israeli massacres, starvation and attempts to displace them.

“This requires the immediate implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2735 demanding a ceasefire, the entry of aid, full withdrawal from Gaza and Palestine assuming its responsibilities in the Strip,” he added.

On 10 June, the UN Security Council passed a resolution supporting a Gaza ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal from the enclave, along with a prisoner swap between Israel and Palestinians.

“Achieving security and stability in the region requires Palestine to obtain full membership in the UN and more international recognition” of the Palestinian State, Abbas said.

The Palestinian leader called for providing financial support to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, (UNRWA), to allow it to shoulder its humanitarian responsibilities towards the Palestinians.

The D-8 summit, titled “Investing in Youth and Supporting SMEs: Shaping Tomorrow’s Economy”, opened in Cairo on Thursday, with the participation of Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The D-8 group was established in Istanbul in 1997 to strengthen economic and social relations among its member states –Turkiye, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iran and Malaysia.

Israel, on 7 October, 2023 launched a genocidal war on Gaza that has so far killed over 45,100 people, most of them women and children, since an attack by the Palestinian Resistance group, Hamas.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last month for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on Gaza.

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