Saudi FM: Palestinian State, End to Occupation Are Pillars of Regional Security, Stability https://english.aawsat.com/gulf/5321593-saudi-fm-palestinian-state-end-occupation-are-pillars-regional-security-stability
Saudi FM: Palestinian State, End to Occupation Are Pillars of Regional Security, Stability
Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah co-chaired a high-level meeting in New York alongside France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. (SPA)
Saudi FM: Palestinian State, End to Occupation Are Pillars of Regional Security, Stability
Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah co-chaired a high-level meeting in New York alongside France, the United Kingdom, and Canada. (SPA)
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah called for the immediate, full implementation of US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the conflict in Gaza and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.
An independent Palestinian state and an end to the occupation are essential to regional security and stability, he said, as Saudi Arabia strengthened coordination with Syria and Türkiye on shared challenges.
Prince Faisal co-chaired Tuesday’s high-level meeting, “The Road Ahead: One Year after the New York Declaration and the Comprehensive 20-point Peace Plan for Gaza” with France, Britain, and Canada on the sidelines of the 81st UN General Assembly.
He welcomed moves by France, Britain, Canada and a growing number of other countries to recognize a Palestinian state and strengthen accountability over illegal settlement activity. He urged countries that have yet to recognize Palestine to do so.
Prince Faisal called for action against settlement expansion, settler violence and annexation policies, and for the preservation of Jerusalem’s historic and legal status quo.
He also urged all sides to reject violence, hatred and incitement and create conditions for peace and reconciliation.
On Gaza, he pressed for the peace plan’s full and immediate implementation and unhindered aid access, leading to the unification of Gaza and the West Bank under the Palestinian National Authority.
Security must rest on interdependence and mutual interests, rather than the security of one side at another’s expense, he said.
Saudi Arabia would keep working with its partners for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace based on the Arab Peace Initiative, relevant UN resolutions and the New York Declaration — one that ends the conflict, safeguards rights and security for all, and opens the way to regional stability, cooperation and prosperity.
In a separate meeting in New York, Prince Faisal met Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
They reviewed cooperation among the three countries and opportunities to expand economic and trade ties in support of shared interests, growth and prosperity.
They also discussed closer coordination to tackle shared challenges and stressed the need to continue consultations and efforts toward regional security and stability.
Prince Faisal later met with his South Korean counterpart to discuss regional developments and other issues of mutual interest, as well as ways to strengthen bilateral ties.
King Salman: Saudi Arabia Was Established on Firm Foundations to Preserve the Faith, Justicehttps://english.aawsat.com/gulf/5321867-king-salman-saudi-arabia-was-established-firm-foundations-preserve-faith-justice
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz. (SPA)
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King Salman: Saudi Arabia Was Established on Firm Foundations to Preserve the Faith, Justice
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz. (SPA)
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz stressed on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia's National Day was an occasion to recall the solid foundations upon which the Saudi state was established.
"By the grace of God, and then through the determination and leadership of the founder, King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman, alongside the citizens, the state was established to preserve the faith and establish justice," he said in a post on the X platform.
King Salman prayed to God to sustain Saudi Arabia's security, stability, and prosperity.
Saudi State Institutions: A Century Since the Basic Instructionshttps://english.aawsat.com/gulf/5321790-saudi-state-institutions-century-basic-instructions
An early, rare photograph of King Abdulaziz in Makkah after he left the Grand Mosque (King Abdulaziz Foundation)
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Saudi State Institutions: A Century Since the Basic Instructions
An early, rare photograph of King Abdulaziz in Makkah after he left the Grand Mosque (King Abdulaziz Foundation)
By Bandar Bin Abdulrahman Bin Moamar
Saudi Arabia was built neither on the ruins of another state nor on institutions left by a colonial power. Its founding three centuries ago was an achievement without precedent in the Arabian Peninsula.
King Abdulaziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia, inherited no unified state apparatus. Conditions and administrative arrangements varied across the regions. He drew on what existed, then brought those structures together and developed them as part of a growing institutional project.
After completing the annexation of the Hejaz in 1925, he laid new foundations for state institutions and administration, accelerating regional integration and strengthening national unity.
Saudi Arabia’s 96th National Day this year marks another anniversary: a century since the Basic Instructions were issued on Aug. 31, 1926. Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Shubaily called them “the first written constitutional document in the history of the modern Saudi state.”
The occasion also comes a decade after the launch of Saudi Vision 2030 in 2016, a decade of unprecedented achievements. Yet the institutional thinking that connects the 1920s with the 2020s has received too little study. It deserves a closer look.
A century since the first founding document
The Basic Instructions followed the pledge of allegiance to King Abdulaziz as king of the Hejaz in January 1926. They served as a first constitution, opening the phase that led to Saudi Arabia’s unification in 1932.
Across 79 articles, the document laid the legal foundations for government. It defined the powers of the king’s deputy in the Hejaz and set out the administrative structures, the Shura Council and six departments: Sharia affairs, interior, foreign affairs, finance, education and the army. Those departments became the seeds of a government system that today includes more than 20 ministries and over 300 institutions, authorities and agencies.
The document’s significance becomes clearer in its historical setting. King Abdulaziz tasked an elected committee of national figures from various fields with drafting it.
They included Abdulqader Al-Shaibi, Mohammed Sharaf Adnan, Mohammed Al-Marzouqi Abu Hussein, Saleh Shatta, Mohammed Hussein Nassif, Suleiman Qabel, Mahmoud Shalhoub, Hussein Basalama, Ali Kutbi, Mohammed Saeed Abu Al-Khair, Mohammed Majed Al-Kurdi, Abdullah Zainal, Hussein Adnan and Abdullah Al-Dahlawi.
Together, they helped draft a blueprint for a state built on institutions. It showed early political maturity in a region shaped by conquest and control.
One point is often overlooked: the Basic Instructions applied to the Kingdom of the Hejaz, even as their institutions influenced other regions. Najd and the Hejaz remained separate kingdoms under King Abdulaziz. Fuad Hamza noted that changing conditions required amendments to parts of the document while it was in force.
The instructions remained a constitution until the two kingdoms were unified. In retrospect, they were deliberately transitional: a founding document for a state still taking shape, not a fixed system. King Abdulaziz built institutions knowing that a larger, more comprehensive structure would follow.
The decades between the two documents
From 1926 to 1932, the Basic Instructions governed the work of state institutions under K