Arab Parliament urges international action to end Israeli grab of Syrian territories

By İbrahim Khazen

CAIRO (AA) – The Arab Parliament urged international action Saturday to end Israel's grab of Syrian territories.

It came during a speech while presiding over a parliamentary session at the headquarters of the Arab League's General Secretariat in Cairo, according to a statement by the Arab Parliament.

Regarding recent developments in Syria, Muhammad Al-Yamahi, the president of the Arab Parliament, urged all Syrian parties to "preserve state institutions, prioritize the country's supreme interests, and adopt wisdom and dialogue in addressing the requirements of this critical phase in their nation's history."

Al-Yamahi encouraged the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, to "take immediate and urgent action to condemn and halt the violations committed by the occupying entity, exploiting the situation in Syria to seize more Syrian territories."

Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power in Syria since 1963.

Taking advantage of the ousting of the regime, Israel has intensified airstrikes in recent days, targeting military sites in blatant violation of Syria's sovereignty.

Israel also announced the collapse of a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria and the deployment of its army in the demilitarized zone of the Golan Heights, most of which it has occupied since 1967 -- a move condemned by the UN and Arab countries.

Regarding the situation in Palestine, Al-Yamahi denounced "the international community's failure to act to save the Palestinian people, who have been subjected to daily genocide and massacres for over a year and two months, the likes of which history has never seen."

He demanded that the world's parliaments and free nations "pressure their governments to implement the decision of the Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh (in November) to suspend the occupation entity's participation in the UN General Assembly and its affiliated bodies, as well as to freeze the membership of the occupying entity's parliament in the Inter-Parliamentary Union and other regional parliamentary organizations and unions."

He also called for "activating the economic boycott weapon against the occupying entity and those who provide it with money and weapons to kill Palestinian civilians."​​​​​​​

Al-Yamahi said the Arab Parliament intends to implement a parliamentary action plan to communicate with parliaments around the world that have not yet recognized the state of Palestine, urging them to pressure their governments to recognize it, in support of and victory for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala