MUSCAT — The 29th Arab Gulf Cooperation Council Summit under the chairmanship of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, which concluded here yesterday called for an immediate halt to Israeli massacre of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

A communiqué issued at the end of the two-day summit strongly condemned the “painful events in Gaza and the destruction inflicted by the brutal Israeli military without any human consideration or legitimacy”.

The AGCC leaders have decided to take up the issue with the permanent members of the UN Security Council and urge the international community to shoulder responsibility for Israel’s inhuman and ruthless crime.

More than 380 Palestinians have been killed in nearly four days of Israeli attacks on the territory controlled by Hamas.

“The (supreme) council strongly denounced this Israeli aggression and placed most of the responsibility for pushing matters to this dangerous level on its stubborn policies and inhumane practices against the Palestinians,” the leaders said in their communiqué.

Israel should “end the unjust siege of all Palestinian land, including Gaza”, it said.

The leaders urged the world to “move immediately to stop the massacres and the aggression by the Israeli killing machine and provide protection to the Palestinian people”.

Arab foreign ministers are due to discuss holding an emergency Arab summit at a meeting in Cairo today to address the issue.

The AGCC repeated a call for the Palestinians, locked in a power struggle between the Hamas movement and President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement, to reconcile, so that Arab countries can help them.

In the Muscat Declaration issued at the end of the summit, the leaders said: “In view of the drastic changes and developments taking place in the world, there is a need to put in more efforts to preserve the gains achieved by the AGCC and deal with new developments in a manner that will allow member states to continue their work in developing their individual capacities. In the process, they will have to make use of the state-of-the-art technologies, including intensifying efforts to develop their human resources and scientific research. This will enable the member states to transform themselves into knowledge-based economies, achieve sustainable economic and social development, prepare and enhance the climate for investment with a competitive edge and participate in the world economy on a solid and stable footing”.

The council, as a step towards consolidating economic integration among the member states, decided to stick to the timeframe for setting up the monetary union and launching the single currency as approved by its Supreme Council in December 2001.

The council also approved the monetary union agreement, which covers the legislative and institutional frameworks. It has also approved the basic statute of the Monetary Council, calling for quick approval of the agreement and working out the technical requirements for the union, ahead of establishing the central bank and launching of the single currency.

The council also reviewed the follow-up reports on the customs union, common market, the water link project between the AGCC states, the AGCC railway project and introduction of the smart card system to facilitate the free movement of AGCC citizens.

It called for enhancing international cooperation in combating terrorism, by sharing information and not allowing use of other countries’ territories to mastermind or execute terrorist activities and extraditing elements involved in terrorist activities.
The council has also voiced concern over the increasing piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and called for establishing regional and international cooperation in fighting such activities as per the UN Security Council’s Resolution No. 1851.

It approved the membership of the Yemeni Republic at the AGCC Standardisation Authority and Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consultancy, the AGCC Auditing Authority and Gulf Radio and TV.

The council emphasised the importance of Israeli withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories, including the Golan Heights, to the June 4th borderline, and further withdrawal from the remaining occupied lands in South Lebanon as per the Security Council’s resolutions 425 and 426.

The council voiced its hope that US president-elect Barack Obama will attach the Palestinian issue and Middle East peace process top priority in the US Foreign policy to fulfil the commitments and promises towards establishing an independent viable Palesti-nian state that can live in peace and security side by side with Israel. The council also hoped that he could bring permanent, just and comprehensive peace to the Middle East.

The council also reaffirmed the UAE’s right to regain the islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa and their continental shelves, territorial waters and the pure economic zone.

On Iran’s nuclear file, the council stressed the importance of abiding by the international principles and renewed its stance, which calls for solving the crisis through diplomatic means.

The council also reiterated its demand to make the Middle East region free from all weapons of mass destruction, while acknowledging the right of the region’s countries to seek nuclear expertise and possess nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

On Iraq issue, the council stressed the necessity to respect its sovereignty, territorial unity and independence, and protect its Arab and Islamic identity.

The council decided to hold the 30th AGCC summit in Kuwait in 2009 and congratulated His Majesty the Sultan for organising the Muscat Summit in a systematic manner and making it a grand success.