The head of the Arab League said Wednesday that his organization wants the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate the deaths last week of 18 Palestinians during protests near Gaza’s border with Israel.

During an official visit to Lisbon, Portugal Ahmed Aboul Gheit said that the Arab League also supports UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s call for an independent investigation of the fatal shootings by Israeli forces.

Aboul Gheit asserted that Palestinians were demanding their rights “and they will not be forgotten or diminished.”

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He added he hoped the killings would stop “because the demonstrations will continue at least until May 15” — when Israel will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of its establishment, which the Palestinians refer to as the Nakba, or catastrophe.

On Friday, over 30,000 Palestinians demonstrated along the Gaza border, in what Israel describes as a riot orchestrated by the Hamas terrorist group, which rules Gaza, and what Palestinians say was supposed to be a peaceful protest.

There were discrepancies in Palestinian reports on the Gaza death toll from Friday. While Hamas claimed Monday that 18 had died, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority had the number at 16. Israel has no official death toll figures. Over 1,000 were reported injured.

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis said on Saturday that all those killed were engaged in violence. Manelis said on Friday evening that the army had faced “a violent, terrorist demonstration at six points” along the fence. He said the IDF used “pinpoint fire” wherever there were attempts to breach or damage the security fence.

The IDF on Saturday named and detailed 10 of the dead as members of terror groups including Hamas. (Hamas had earlier acknowledged five of them were its members.) Islamic Jihad later claimed an 11th.

Palestinians have pointed to a handful of filmed instances from the demonstration which appeared to show protesters being shot at while posing no threat to IDF troops. The army, on the other hand, has claimed Hamas fakes and fabricates such videos.</s>The Hague (AFP) - A Malian jihadist will make a first appearance Wednesday before the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges over the destruction of holy sites and sex slavery.</s>Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh has called on the Arab League to sue Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The demand came during a phone call Haniyeh made with Secretary-General of the Cairo-based league, Ahmed Abul-Gheit, to discuss Israeli practices against the Palestinians. Haniyeh underlined the need "to go to the U.N. General Assembly to discuss the [Israeli] crime and form a special investigation commission." his office said in a statement, as reported by Anadolu Agency (AA).

The U.N. Security Council (UNSC) held a session Saturday at the request of Kuwait to discuss the situation on Gaza border, but the Council failed to condemn the Israeli violence against Palestinian protesters. The U.S. declined calls from the U.N. Security Council for an investigation into violence on the Israeli-Gaza border that left 18 Palestinians dead, a U.N. official said Monday.

Speaking at Arab League session, Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt Diab al-Louh accused the U.S. of "encouraging" Israel to continue committing "heinous crimes" against defenseless Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch yesterday accused Israel of "unlawful" excessive force when it responded last week to mass Palestinian protests with live fire. The group issued a report saying that although there was violence at the protest on Friday, like rock throwing and burning tires, there is no evidence that demonstrators "seriously threatened" Israeli soldiers.

Friday was the bloodiest single day in the embattled coastal enclave since a 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.</s>The head of the Arab League says his organization wants the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate the deaths last week of 18 Palestinians during protests near Gaza's border with Israel.

Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said Wednesday during an official visit to Lisbon, Portugal that the Arab League also supports U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' call for an independent investigation of the killings by Israeli forces.

Last Friday, thousands of Palestinians marched near the border fence between Israel and Gaza. Israel warns that those approaching the border are endangering their lives.

Aboul-Gheit says Palestinians are demanding their rights "and they will not be forgotten or diminished."

He said he hoped the killings would stop "because the demonstrations will continue at least until May 15" — the 70th anniversary of Israel's creation.</s>Hyderabad, April 3 (IANS) The Arab League, the largest organization of Arab countries, has presented Arab League award to Syed Vicaruddin, Chairman of Indo-Arab League, a Hyderabad-based organisation working to promote Indo-Arab ties.

The award was presented to Syed Vicaruddin on the 73rd inception day of the Arab League by Union Minister of State M.J. Akbar at the Embassy of Oman in New Delhi on Tuesday in the presence of ambassadors of 22 Arab countries.

Syed Vicaruddin, who also edits India’s oldest Urdu daily ‘Rahnuma-e-Deccan’, is the first Indian to be presented with this award, said a statement here.

Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to India, Saud Mohammed Al-Sati appreciated the services of Vicaruddin for healthier Indo-Arab relations. “Indo-Arab League Hyderabad under the leadership of Mr. Syed Vicaruddin has played an important role in promoting peace among Arab states and striving for their unity for half a century,” he said.

Arab League Ambassador Dr Alia Ghannam also lauded Vicaruddin’s contributions to Arab world’s peace and unity.

Vicaruddin said although the Arab League award is a rare honour, it will always remind him of “the blood of Palestinian martyrs and the pain and sufferings of Palestinian women and children”.

He said the Indo-Arab League was established to strengthen Indo-Arab relations and support the Palestinian cause of peace and freedom in 1967.

“Two Presidents of India and seven Prime Ministers including Mrs. Indira Gandhi, P.V.Narsimha Rao, I.K.Gujaral, V.K.Singh, Shankar Dayal Sharma and Gyani Zail Singh had participated in Indo- Arab League Hyderabad’s events,” he said, adding Palestinian President Yaser Arafat visited Hyderabad twice on his personal invitation to attend Indo-Arab League seminars.

Vicaruddin said the Indo-Arab League Hyderabad is building Arafat Complex at a cost of Rs 80 crore at Banjara Hills. The complex will be a tribute to the former Palestinian President and will house a research centre, reading hall, gallery showcasing Palestinian martyrs among other things.

Vicaruddin invited ambassadors of these Arab states to establish their consulates in Hyderabad at the Arafat Complex, which will be ready by 2019.</s>CAIRO: An emergency meeting at the level of the permanent delegates was held at the headquarters of the Council of the Arab League on Tuesday to discuss developments of the situation in Palestine.

 The Sultanate was represented in the meeting by Dr Ali bin Ahmed al Issaee, Sultanate’s Ambassador to Egypt, its Permanent Delegate to the Council of the Arab League.

 The Arab League affirmed that the meeting was devoted to discussing Israel’s crimes against the peaceful demonstrations of the Palestinians and who took part in the march themed ‘Great Return March’ marking the Land Day last Friday’s to demand the right of return for the Palestinian refugees.

 Diab al Louh, Ambassador of Palestine to Egypt, its Permanent Representative to the Arab League, stressed the necessity of a quick intervention to provide protection to the defenceless Palestinian people, especially after the massacre committed by Israel against peaceful demonstrators in the Gaza Strip. — ONA</s>The Arab League will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday on Israeli deadly attacks against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, league official said Monday.

Saeed Abu Ali, assistant secretary-general for Palestine and the occupied Arab territories of the League States, said Saudi Arabia would chair the representative-level meeting that would be held at the request of the Palestinian Authority.

Palestine urged the Arab League on Sunday to hold the meeting because of “Israeli crimes against Land Marches”, that nation’s ambassador to Cairo told Anadolu Agency.

Diab al-Louh said his country submitted a memorandum to the Arab League to hold the meeting at the level of permanent representatives because of Israel’s crimes and deadly force against peaceful demonstrators during Land Day protests Friday.

The Arab League said it closely followed developments that resulted in 17 Palestinians being martyred at the Gaza border. The group also demanded the international community fulfill its responsibility to stop Israeli violations and establish an inquiry commission. In addition to the martyrs, the attacks injured nearly 1,500 victims.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators converged Friday on the Gaza Strip’s 45-kilometer-long (28-mile) eastern border with Israel to demand their right to return to their ancestral homes in historical Palestine.

In anticipation of the mass demonstrations, Israel deployed thousands of troops along the border.

Dubbed the “Great March of Return,” the protests also intended to pressure Israel to lift its more than decade-long blockade of Gaza.</s>Qatar has officially been invited to attend this year's Arab League summit, set to be held in Riyadh on April 15.

"The state of Qatar has received the invitation to participate in the Arab Summit, and will participate, but we have not yet decided the level of participation", Lulwa al-Khater, a spokesperson for Qatar's foreign ministry, said on Wednesday.

Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (or MbS as he is often referred to) announced earlier in March that while he would not accept outside mediation in the resolution of the Gulf crisis, this would not stop Qatar from attending an Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia.

"We will not accept any resolution to the crisis [with Qatar] outside an Arab or a Gulf framework, but that does not mean we will bar Qatar from attending the upcoming Arab summit", MbS told reporters during an official visit to Egypt.

To be sure, the Arab League's internal regulations require that host countries extend official invitations to all member-states.

A quartet of countries made up of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have imposed a sea, land and air blockade on Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism and destabilising the region, charges Doha denies.
Ahmed Aboul Gheit, head of the Arab League, asks the International Criminal Court for an investigation.