Watan-The ‘Aqaba Summit’ held in Jordan on Wednesday sparked widespread mockery and sharp criticism from social media users. The summit brought together Jordan’s King Abdullah II with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The ‘Aqaba Summit’ took place amid Israeli officials affirming the Israeli occupation’s determination to continue its brutal war in the Gaza Strip until reaching the leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and securing the release of Israeli hostages held by Palestinian resistance in Gaza.
The three leaders issued a warning against attempts to reoccupy parts of the Gaza Strip or displace its residents or those of the West Bank. They expressed concern about the ‘hostile actions’ carried out by settlers in the occupied West Bank.
قمة #العقبة الثلاثية: نرفض بشكل كامل جميع محاولات تصفية القضية الفلسطينية والفصل بين الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة#حرب_غزة #الأخبار pic.twitter.com/JWVhERs1gm
— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) January 10, 2024
The leaders emphasized during the Aqaba Summit their opposition to any Israeli plans to displace Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. They stressed the need for international condemnation, active opposition, and the continuous and sufficient delivery of relief and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The tripartite Aqaba Summit coincided with a round of talks by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Israel as part of a tour that included Arab capitals to discuss the post-war phase, according to media reports.
Mockery and sharp criticism of the Aqaba Summit
Former Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem commented on the summit and its outcomes with a tweet on the platform, stating: ‘The Aqaba Summit brought together the helpless, the sidelined, and the inept: the result is three zeros that will lead to nothing, no matter how you turn them or move them, collectively or individually.’
The former minister added mockingly, ‘Who is incapable of delivering a bottle of water to the besieged and bombarded Gaza, and settles for raising walls and barriers, what do you expect from him?
قمة العقبة: جمع بين العاجز والمقعد والكسيح: النتيجة ثلاثة أصفار ولن تؤدي الا الى أصفار كيفها قلبتها وحرّكتها، جمعا وطرحا وكسرا.
من يعجز عن إدخال قارورة ماء لغزة المحاصرة والمقصوفة، وبكتفي برفع الجدران والحواجز، ماذا تنتظرون منه؟ pic.twitter.com/FYaBwWa1Hy— Dr Rafik Abdessalem. د. رفيق عبد السلام (@RafikAbdessalem) January 10, 2024
Moroccan writer Hicham Tawfik tweeted about the summit: “The failed Aqaba Summit, do you know what Aqaba means? Aqaba is the Arab peoples, as Netanyahu stated: ‘The peoples are an obstacle to implementing the deal of the century.'”
Tawfik added, “Their meeting is to find another way to provide security for the Zionist entity, not to confront it. Know that these [leaders] are part of the global imperialist plan, so how can they change their creator when they are the creation?”
“A Real Obstacle to the Solution”
Inaya Jafar described the summit leaders as “a real obstacle,” indicating that what comes from Arab leaders cannot reflect any benefit on the situation in Gaza or lead to progress in the Palestinian cause.
Twitter user Karim commented on the Aqaba Summit, stating that it has two confirmed reasons: “1/ Jordan’s support for any decision to protect its security from any coup against the king and rejection of any imposed reality. 2/ Arranging something important in the same context as Ibn Ya’qub [referring to the region] and then another matter.”
Abdullah Hashem Al-Zarrahi believed the outcome was predictable, tweeting: “I said: They will not come up with a result; they are complicit with the occupying entity and have no decision.”
The brutal Israeli war on Gaza, since its inception, has left more than 23,357 martyrs and 59,410 wounded, mostly children and women. Large parts of the Gaza Strip have turned into devastated areas.