GCC to activate defence mechanism; Doha summit slams Israel’s Qatar attack

Doha, Qatar – An emergency summit of Arab and Islamic country leaders held in Doha has condemned Israel’s “cowardly” attack on Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital, but the participants made no promises of concrete action.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)’s pledge to “activate a joint defence mechanism” may have been the most actionable result of the summit, which was opened by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who called the Israeli bombing “blatant, treacherous, and cowardly”.

The GCC countries, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have formed a defence pact to address the security concerns of the member states.

“My country’s capital was subjected to a treacherous attack targeting a residence housing the families of Hamas leaders and their negotiating delegation,” Sheikh Tamim said in his opening speech. The Hamas leaders had been meeting to discuss the latest United States-backed proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Sheikh Tamim called for “concrete steps to address the state of madness of power, arrogance, and bloodthirstiness obsession that has befallen the government of Israel, and what resulted and continues to result from it”.

The attack on mediators proved that Israel had “no genuine interest in peace” and was seeking to “thwart negotiations” to end the war in Gaza that has killed more than 64,800 Palestinians, he said.

The emergency summit was organised after fury swept the region following Israeli strikes on September 9, which killed six people.

The GCC said that consultations were already under way among the bloc’s military bodies to build up “Gulf deterrent capabilities”, with a meeting of the group’s Unified Military Command to take place soon in Doha, according to Majed Mohammed Al-Ansari, spokesman for Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

No further details were available about the new defence mechanism, which states that an attack on one member state is an attack on all.

“The joint statement obviously called for a meeting of the high command to be held here in Doha to discuss further steps to ensure that the safety and the joint security of the GCC countries is addressed,” Al-Ansari told media.

“The GCC stands in one line,” he added.

Israel’s expansionist vision

The Qatari emir also warned against Israel’s expansionist vision of the region, with repeated bombings of Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Israel has also grabbed Syrian land and refused to withdraw its forces from southern Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is dreaming of making the Arab region “an Israeli sphere of influence”, Sheikh Tamim said, adding that it “is a dangerous illusion”.

No immediate political or economic measures were announced against the Israeli aggression at the summit.

But Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, the secretary-general of the GCC, urged US President Donald Trump to rein in Washington’s closest ally, Israel.

“We expect our strategic partners in the US to use their influence on Israel for it to stop this behaviour – we really do expect that,” Albudaiwi said.

“They have leverage and influence over Israel, and it’s about time that this leverage and influence are used”.

Despite expectations of more forceful measures, the summit’s final communique largely consisted of condemnations and pledges of solidarity.

“We condemn in the strongest terms Israel’s cowardly and illegal attack on the State of Qatar. We respond with absolute solidarity with Qatar and support for its steps,” read the memo issued by member states of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The communique also praised Qatar’s response to the attacks, voiced solidarity with Doha’s mediation role alongside Egypt and the US, and rejected any justification for further aggression.

The member states also rejected “Israel’s repeated threats of the possibility of targeting Qatar again”.

When questioned about these threats, as well as Israel’s resolve to target Hamas “anywhere”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Al-Ansari said Qatar would make use of the international system to hold Israel to account.

“We will hold Israel accountable in the international community, and our tool in doing that is our belief in international law and international organisations,” he said.

“This is why we went to the [United Nations] Security Council and now, of course, to the Arab and Islamic Organisations and GCC … we are working very closely with all our partners to make sure that we deter Prime Minister Netanyahu from attacking sovereign states again.”

Tougher calls by individual states

While the joint communique stopped short of hard measures, several Arab and Islamic leaders tabled stronger, more actionable responses to Israel.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Arab and Muslim leaders to apply economic pressure on Israel, arguing that “past experience has proven the success of such pressure”.

He also called for Israeli officials to be brought to justice through international legal mechanisms.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said that “the heinous attack on Qatari territory is a grave violation of international law and sets a dangerous precedent”.

“I say to the people of Israel that what is happening now is sabotaging the existing peace agreements, and the consequences will be dire,” he said. Egypt was the first Arab country to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in 1979.

Pakistan, meanwhile, urged the UN to suspend Israel, and also called for an Arab-Islamic task force.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the task force should “adopt effective measures to ward off Israeli expansionist designs”.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, stated that “condemnations will not stop the missiles, declarations will not free Palestine”.

He pressed for strict sanctions and the suspension of diplomatic and commercial relations with Israel.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier on Monday had also urged Muslim nations to cut ties with Israel.

“We should act together to stand up to Israeli behaviour because Israel has violated the sovereignty of a number of Arab and Muslim states under the false pretext of self-defence,” he said.

Andrea Dessi, assistant professor of international relations at the University of Rome, said the Doha summit marked a change of tone among Arab Islamic states.

“At the rhetorical level, we are seeing the beginnings of a coming together, of a change of tone and a change of mind – the actions will have to follow,” Dessi told media.

The professor said the event was important, as Arab and Muslim leaders agreed that “something has to change in terms of the security architecture of the region. We are far away from this, but there are movements”.

As the summit was being held in Doha, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio travelled to Israel to meet Netanyahu, who again threatened to target Hamas leaders if Qatar did not expel them. But Trump on Monday repeated his assertion that Israel would not strike Qatar again.

Al-Ansari said that Qatar has “been engaging very closely with the Trump administration”.

He told reporters that Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani had “excellent” meetings in New York in the past week, and that discussions on next steps between the allies are taking place.

Rubio is expected to visit Doha on Tuesday.