The UAE participated in the meetings with a delegation from the FNC, headed by council-member Khalid bin Zayed bin Saqr Al Nahyan. Over 140 national parliaments are currently members of the IPU. “We reaffirm the complete sovereignty of the UAE over the islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, presently occupied by Iran, as well as its sovereignty over the islands’ air, regional waters, continental shelf, and economic zone,” the Arab parliamentarians said. They called on Iran to accept the UAE’s call for a peaceful solution to the issue through ‘serious’ bilateral negotiations or referring the issue to the International Court of Justice.

In another meeting alongside the IPU Assembly, the Arab and Muslim parliamentarians discussed the flaring situation in Gaza and issued a statement calling on the international community to immediately intervene to stop Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinians.

“While anxiously observing the military operations launched by Israel on the highest populated areas in Gaza Strip, especially Jabalia Camp, which resulted in the killing of many Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, the Arab and Islamic group of parliamentarians noticed that Israel is being treated as an exceptional case in terms of international resolutions enforcement.

“Making use of such double-standards, Israel continues its war against the Palestinian people, and its cross-border crimes reach out to countries of the region, which forecast an extremely dangerous situation arising on the heels of this escalation,” the statement said.

It called upon the participants of the assembly, all international parliaments, all governments, as well as the United Nations and the Security Council to immediately intervene to stop Israel’s operations and send international observers to protect the Palestinians against the state terrorism carried out by Israel.