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Arabs to use oil power against Israel
“Playing the economic card is our most powerful weapon at the moment in supporting the Palestinian people,” Iraq’s envoy to the Arab League Qais al-Azzawi said in a statement on Friday.
“Now there is no military potential for the Arabs to defend themselves… which leads us to think seriously about using the enormous economic potential of the Arabs against Israel,” the earlier statement said.
Israeli airstrikes, shelling, and artillery fire have left 30 Palestinians, including 8 children and a pregnant woman, dead and at least 280 others injured since Wednesday. Some of the injured are in critical condition.
On Saturday, the Arab League will convene an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in the Egyptian capital Cairo, where the bloc has its headquarters, to respond to deadly Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“What happened in 1973, when the Arabs stopped oil exports to Western states, is proof that this weapon can succeed in the battle between the Arabs and Israel,” Azzawi said of a decision taken during the October war.
The Iraqi envoy was referring to the oil embargo by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in October 1973, when Israel began a war on Arab states. Oil prices jumped and the embargo forced Western countries to back off from supporting Israel.
GJH/MA
