GCC Ministerial Council slams Israel's plan to fragment West Bank enclaves
The Council condemned the Israeli occupation's ratification of the plan to fragment 13 settlement enclaves in the West Bank, its relentless construction of settlement units across the occupied Palestinian territory, and the forcible eviction of Palestinians from their homes.
It reaffirmed its outright rejection of any attempts to annex West Bank settlements to the Israeli entity.
On the Gulf front, the Council underscored its enduring commitment to the strength and cohesion of the GCC, the unity of its ranks, and the advancement of greater coordination, integration, and interconnectedness across all sectors, so as to fulfill the aspirations of GCC citizens.
It affirmed that its member states stand in absolute solidarity in the face of any threat targeting any of the GCC states.
The Council took note of the political efforts spearheaded by GCC member states and Arab nations to cease the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, commending the humanitarian and relief assistance extended by GCC states to Gaza, including the popular campaigns launched to support the Palestinian people and ensure the delivery of life-saving aid to the embattled population.
The Council hailed the outcomes of the Gulf–US Summit 2025, hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on May 14, 2025, and the Second ASEAN–Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit, convened on May 27, 2025, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Both summits underscored the growing strategic alignment and reinforced multilateral cooperation frameworks.
On the Syrian issue, the Council stressed the imperative of upholding Syria's sovereignty, independence, and territorial unity, unequivocally rejecting any foreign meddling in its internal affairs. It affirmed that the security and stability of Syria constitute a fundamental pillar of regional security architecture.
On the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, the Council reiterated that its stance is anchored in the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations, emphasizing the preservation of the rules-based international order founded on respect for state sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence.
The communique further took note of the diplomatic efforts led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, particularly its hosting of direct talks between the Russian Federation and the United States of America over Ukraine crisis, expressing hope that such engagements would culminate in advancing their intended objectives of bolstering security and stability.
It welcomed the ceasefire deal reached between India and Pakistan and their decision to prioritize wisdom and restraint, expressing hope that this development would pave the way for restoring security and stability across the region.
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As Israel loudly beat the drums of war one day before its unprovoked surprise attack on Iran, a small but significant piece of news slipped by almost unnoticed: The announcement of a new research project on the website of a Washington, DC think tank. On June 12, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) announced the launch of the Balochistan Studies Project (BSP). Significantly, in addition to mentioning Balochistan's abundance of natural resources 'such as oil, gas, uranium, copper, coal, rare earth elements and the two deep seaports of Gwadar and Chabahar', MEMRI's statement justifies the project's necessity by identifying the region as 'the perfect outpost to counter and keep under control Iran, its nuclear ambitions, and its dangerous relations with Pakistan, which may provide Tehran with tactical nukes'. 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Given the strategic advantages that a successful co-optation of the Baloch cause would grant Israel, and the potential ramifications it would bear upon the resistance of stateless peoples within the region, including Palestinians as well as the Baloch, themselves, there is a need to examine the limitations of geopolitical thinking within national liberation movements. MEMRI's announcement of the BSP is riddled with logical inconsistencies and misinformation regarding the reality of exploitation and resistance in Balochistan. For example, centring the fact that the states of both Iran and Pakistan are currently fighting counterinsurgency campaigns in Balochistan, MEMRI's website calls for 'the international community' to 'understand that Balochistan is a natural ally of the West' – ignoring the fact that Western companies such as Barrick Gold and BHP Billiton have played key roles in enabling colonial resource extraction and ecological destruction in the region. Another example relates to the personnel involved in the project. One article on the BSP on MEMRI's website welcomes a 'renowned Baloch writer, scholar, and political scientist' called Mir Yar Baloch, whose X account 'has been defined as one of the most influential in the Subcontinent', as a 'special adviser'. In May of this year, Baloch made headlines for unilaterally declaring the independence of Balochistan in a series of posts on X, where he also announced to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India had 'the backing of 60 million Baloch patriots' after it launched Operation Sindoor against Pakistan. More than for his grand proclamations, Mir Yar Baloch is interesting for the amount of mystery that surrounds him, given his supposed status as an important and influential Baloch intellectual. Despite being profiled by a variety of news outlets – notably all Indian – none have deviated from regurgitating a biography for him as limited as that published in the MEMRI article. Significantly, however, more well-known Baloch activists have been quick to distance themselves from him. Niaz Baloch of the Baloch National Movement, for example, posted on X that there exists no consensus for a declaration of independence among Baloch leaders. Crucially, he also listed four 'fake accounts', including that of Mir Yar Baloch, that he stated 'should be reported and unfollowed immediately'. Baloch activists therefore speculate that Mir Yar Baloch is a fake persona created by a state with interests in the region to support its objectives. Balochistan is a region that spans the border between Iran and Pakistan, where both states are engaged in counterinsurgency campaigns that often spur tensions between them. Each has accused the other of fostering instability by sheltering militant groups across the frontier. Crucially, many Baloch people on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border view themselves as marginalised and systematically oppressed by the states that govern them. In this context, an Israeli overture towards supporting the Baloch cause opens the door to new avenues of entrenching Israeli influence in the wider West Asia region. Beyond Israel's infiltration of the Iranian state and security apparatus, demonstrated to devastating effect by the events of June 13, declaring overt support for the Baloch cause allows Israel to build relationships with secessionist groups in regions where Iranian and Pakistani political legitimacy is limited. Taking into account Israel's objective of containing and crushing Palestinian resistance, support for such groups also creates conditions that enable Israel to actively undermine efforts at transnational solidarity-building between Palestinians and other stateless populations, such as the Baloch. Any Israeli gesture towards Balochistan would also be scaffolded by Israel's strategic partnership with India, which has long positioned itself as a key supporter of the Baloch cause – a position that has notably undermined attempts at solidarity-building between the Baloch and stateless peoples forced to live under Indian rule, such as Kashmiris. In a substantive sense, it is notable that Mir Yar Baloch, who has tweeted in support of Israel and India, owes his public profile almost entirely to the Indian media. Furthermore, his messaging is overwhelmingly directed at Indian audiences. The BSP thus represents a case of India and Israel's strategic partnership manifesting in a projection of both Israeli and Indian cross-regional influence. I do not deny the relevance of geopolitics in strategising and building capacity for resistance, but elevating it to top priority can be harmful. A 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' approach risks undermining principled long-term alliances. History offers a warning: The Palestine Liberation Organisation's (PLO) alliance with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, a relationship described by Sadiq al-Azm as 'unprincipled', alienated Kurds and indirectly facilitated the development of relatively warm relations between Israel and the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq. More recently, Iran's crackdown on Kurdish – and to a lesser extent Baloch – groups following its war with Israel cited fears of their possible collaboration with Israel as a pretext. A post-geopolitical approach to foreign policy formulation among stateless groups, therefore, would necessarily take into account the factory defect of nation-states: their necessary prioritisation of survival and the maintenance of a constellation of privileges and interests over a substantive struggle towards justice. In this context, a principled anticolonial inter- and transnationalism that looks beyond geopolitics does not represent a utopian ideal detached from the practicalities of struggle. Instead, it represents a form of long-term pragmatism in and of itself that pushes against the short-termist gains of privileging geopolitics above principles. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
