Minister urges greater western pressure on Israel to end aggression
Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi has said western powers have a moral obligation to constrain Israel to end its aggression against Palestine and Lebanon
In an interview with the global business paper the Financial Times, Sayyid Badr is quoted as saying: “It’s a moral obligation on these countries to do much more than just a policy of persuasion.”
“There needs to be some kind of a constraint put on Israel to halt its aggression,” he is quoted as adding.
The interview quotes Sayyid Badr as saying: “The United States and many other countries have tried to persuade Israeli leadership to stop the fighting, achieve a ceasefire, go back to the political process. Unfortunately, we have not seen any effect of that.”
The Financial Times says that Oman’s Foreign Minister believes that western countries should break an “outdated, cold war habit” of unconditional support for Israel.
“There are peaceful means of leverage that can be applied by these countries who are the closest friends to Israel,” it quotes him as saying.
The paper says Sayyid Badr gives as examples of this, the decisions of France and the UK to limit weapons sales to Israel.
In response to a question about Hezbollah and Hamas, the Financial Times quotes Sayyid Badr as follows: “We would not have had Hamas in the first place had we addressed the root cause of the crisis, the occupation [by] Israel of Palestinian land, that led to the rise of these national resistance movements everywhere that you call proxies.”
The paper says Oman’s Foreign Minister is hopeful that discussions on issues such as sanctions and Iran’s nuclear programme could restart.
“It’s a matter of time before we hope to resume not just indirect talks, but direct talks. Treating Iran as a hostile power is really Prime Minister Netanyahu’s agenda. And no other country needs to follow this lead,” it quotes him as saying.
The article concludes with Sayyid Badr quoted as saying: “The only country I see now that wants to continue the war is Israel, and the world is failing to really stop that and to persuade it to stop this madness.”