The Arab People’s Summit

A virtual conference organized by the Arab Council on Thursday, November 9, 2023, with the participation of prominent Arab figures from various Arab countries and diverse religious, ideological, and political affiliations. The summit aims to discuss ways to coordinate campaigns of support and solidarity with the Palestinian people in steadfast Gaza, and to convey the messages of the peoples and their active forces to Arab and international public opinion. This comes in light of the inaction of Arab regimes, which will meet at the delayed Arab Emergency Summit on Saturday, November 11.

This summit represents the summit of the peoples in contrast to the summit of the regimes. It is the first activity held under the framework of the Network of Arab Democrats, which emerged from the Sarajevo Conference in October 2023.

Objectives of the Summit

  1. To discuss ways of coordination between various political, civil, and youth forces in Arab countries and the diaspora to organize initiatives and campaigns of support and solidarity with the Palestinian people in steadfast Gaza.
  2. To convey the messages of the peoples and their active forces to Arab and international public opinion regarding the situation in Gaza and the urgent need to end the criminal aggression against Gaza.
  3. To pressure the inaction of Arab regimes and their delayed emergency summit to take positions aligned with the collective public conscience and to hold them accountable for ending the siege on Gaza and protecting its people from genocidal war.

Gaza Declaration

In light of the strategic transformations taking place in the Arab region, following the repercussions of the continuous Israeli aggression on Gaza, Al-Aqsa, the West Bank, and Palestine as a whole, as well as the Al-Aqsa Flood operation undertaken by Palestinian resistance movements in response to this aggression,

We, the Arab citizens, at the invitation of the Arab Council, convene at the first Arab People’s Summit today, Thursday, November 9, 2023 (25th Rabi’ al-Thani 1445), to express:

  • The pain of our peoples over the tragic conditions endured by our brothers and sisters in Gaza.
  • The anger of our peoples over the inaction of our regimes and the failure of the so-called international community to halt the unprecedented massacres of our time.
  1. We bow in reverence to the martyrs, extend our condolences to their families, and wish a speedy recovery for the injured.
  2. We declare our pride in and support for the brave resistance, which no power can subdue, in the face of the extreme barbarity displayed by the Israeli war machine. This barbarity has thus far resulted in the death of 12,000 martyrs, tens of thousands of injured, and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes, now turned into rubble. Additionally, the West Bank and Jerusalem are subjected to daily settler aggression and Judaization, alongside repeated attacks on Lebanese, Egyptian, and Syrian territories.
  3. We express our outrage at the double standards of some Western countries, particularly the United States, as if the killing of over 5,000 children holds no value, and as if the events of October 7 arose in a vacuum with no well-known causes.
  4. We salute all forces that stand for freedom, peace, and equality among peoples, who have demonstrated worldwide in defense of Palestinian rights, including Jewish groups, which refute the claims of far-right extremists in all countries and their criminal incitement to sow hatred and provoke what they call a “clash of civilizations.”
  5. We reiterate that the peace we desire, and that all peoples desire, cannot be achieved through the submission demanded of the Palestinian people and Arab nations under the guise of normalization. It can only be achieved through full recognition of the Palestinian people’s right to a secure homeland and an independent state with sovereignty.

Declaration of Commitment

Based on the developments and positions mentioned above, and as representatives of broad sectors of our Arab peoples, we declare:

  1. Our commitment to the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, the establishment of their state with Jerusalem as its capital, and our support for the legitimate Palestinian resistance, rejecting its criminalization and labeling as terrorism. We affirm that the ongoing events are a natural consequence of occupation and persistent colonial settlement policies over decades.

  2. We call upon all regimes participating in the Arab Emergency Summit to assume historical responsibility and adopt the following positions; otherwise, they will be entirely disconnected from the will of their peoples:

    • The immediate severance of diplomatic relations and all forms of normalization with the Israeli occupation.
    • The recognition of Israeli actions as war crimes and genocide, with an announcement of pursuing legal action against them in international courts.
    • The immediate opening of the Rafah border crossing to deliver water, food, medicine, and fuel specifically to the Gaza Strip, alongside the establishment of a special fund for rebuilding the devastated region and compensating the families of martyrs and injured individuals.
    • Delivering a unified Arab position to Western countries biased toward Israel, urging them to reassess their positions that provoke Arab public anger and fuel instability in international relations. We also stress the readiness to apply collective, calculated pressures to enforce this.
    • Announcing practical steps to defuse inter-Arab disputes, revitalize Arab solidarity, and abandon unilateral foreign policies that weaken the Arab body or harm Arab national security. Encouraging internal reconciliations within each state to strengthen internal unity as a means of confronting external challenges.
  3. We announce, on behalf of the attendees of the People’s Summit, the formation of an international human rights coalition to defend Palestinian rights and initiate legal proceedings at the International Criminal Court and all relevant international courts against Israel to hold its government and officials accountable for war crimes, genocide, and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people.
  4. We call upon all our peoples to mobilize en masse in all cities and villages tomorrow, Friday, and to intensify actions to express solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Gaza until their plight is resolved and to pressure any regime that fails to rise to the existential challenges facing the Arab and Islamic nations.
  5. We urge all freedom-loving people of the world, regardless of their religions, to continue rallying and pressuring their governments to stop the atrocities that disgrace humanity.

Glory to Gaza.

Victory to Palestine.

Shame on all who betray the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Note: The “Gaza Declaration” is the final statement of the Arab People’s Summit, held on Thursday, November 9, 2023 (25th Rabi’ al-Thani 1445).

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