Global effort needed to end Middle East crises: King Salman

March 14, 2017

Riyadh, Mar 14: There is an urgent need to intensify international efforts to resolve crises in the Middle East, including the Palestinian cause and the Syrian and Yemeni wars, said Saudi King Salman on Monday, according to Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The king, who is in Tokyo for the fourth leg of his seven-nation Asian tour, said: “Terrorism has become the greatest danger to the security of nations and peoples. We are major partners in fighting it, and we are in need of concerted global efforts and hard work to deepen the concepts of dialogue between the followers of religions and cultures, and enhance the spirit of tolerance and coexistence between peoples.”

The crises have affected negatively the region’s stability and development, impeding the growth of international trade and threatening energy supplies, he added.

King Salman made his remarks as he met with Shinzo Abe, Japanese prime minister, to discuss a wide range of topics. The king and Abe focused on ways to further strengthen strategic as well as economic bilateral ties.

Saudi Arabia and Japan agreed on a “Saudi-Japan Vision 2030” plan to bolster bilateral cooperation during the king’s talks with Abe at the premier’s office.

Abe and King Salman agreed to advance a new economic collaboration program on Saudi Vision 2030, said Setsuo Ohmori, charge d’affaires at the Japanese Embassy.

He added that the two sides also agreed to launch a feasibility study on setting up special economic zones in the Kingdom to attract Japanese investments by easing regulations and customs procedures.

Ohmori said Abe has sought the king’s support for the listing of Saudi Aramco on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. He said the king would meet Emperor Akihito of Japan on Tuesday at a lunch banquet before winding up the tour on Wednesday.

He added that scores of bilateral agreements signed on Monday.

King Salman said: “I express my happiness to be in your country with which we have had historical and economic relations. The Kingdom’s partnership with Japan in launching Saudi-Japanese Vision 2030 will strengthen the strategic partnership between our two countries.”

Abe said he welcomed the visit, considering it “historical and aimed at developing and enhancing relations and achieving more partnership and investments between the two friendly countries".

The king and Abe attended the signing ceremony of memorandums of cooperation that included one on cooperation for the Saudi-Japanese Vision 2030 in the cultural field and another in the field of regulating the process of granting the citizens of the two countries visit visas.

The king also met Fumio Kishida, Japanese foreign minister, Hiroshige Seko, minister of economy, trade and industry, and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike. They discussed economic, trade and industrial cooperation between the two countries.

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UN condemns Israeli regime’s ‘organized torture’ against Palestinians

News Network

November 30,2025

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has condemned the Israeli regime for enforcing a policy of “organized torture” against Palestinians.

In a report published on Friday, CAT stated that the occupying regime enforces a deliberate policy of “organized and widespread torture and ill-treatment” against Palestinian abductees, particularly since October 7, 2023, when Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza.

The committee expressed “deep concern over repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, water-boarding, use of prolonged stress positions [and] sexual violence” inflicted on Palestinians.

Palestinian prisoners were degraded by “being made to act like animals or being urinated on,” systematically denied medical care, and subjected to excessive restraints, “in some cases resulting in amputation,” the report added.

CAT also condemned the routine application of “unlawful combatants law” to justify the prolonged detention without trial of thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children.

More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, according to Palestinian and international human rights groups, with 3,474 Palestinians in “administrative detention,” meaning they are imprisoned without trial for indefinite periods.

The report highlighted the “high proportion of children who are currently detained without charge or on remand,” noting that while Israel sets the age of criminal responsibility at 12, even younger children have been abducted.

Children designated as security prisoners face severe restrictions on family contact, may be subjected to solitary confinement, and are denied access to education, in clear violation of international law.

The committee further suggested that Israel’s policies across the Occupied Territories constitute collective torture against the Palestinian population.

“A range of policies adopted by Israel in the course of its continued unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory amounts to cruel, inhuman or degrading living conditions for the Palestinian population,” the report said.

On Thursday, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas condemned the systematic killing and torture of Palestinian abductees in Israeli prisons, urging international action to halt these abuses.

Citing human rights data, Hamas stated that 94 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prisons since the start of Tel Aviv’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“This reflects an organized criminal approach that has turned these prisons into direct killing grounds to eliminate our people,” the resistance movement said.

Hamas called on the international community, the UN, and human rights organizations to immediately pressure Israel to end crimes against prisoners and uphold their rights as guaranteed by all international conventions and norms.

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