Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday said Israel’s recent strike on Qatar was aimed at silencing mediation and dialogue across the region, urging Arab states to respond with a united stance at the United Nations.

Speaking at an emergency Arab-Islamic summit in Doha, Aoun said the attack was “not directed at a group of individuals, but at the very concept of mediation, dialogue, and negotiation.”

“The goal was to intimidate survivors, paralyze their will, and push them into actions they would otherwise reject,” he told regional leaders, warning that Israel’s strikes were designed to stoke instability and sectarian strife.

Aoun called on Arab countries to deliver a clear message at the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York: “Does Israel’s government truly want a just and lasting peace in our region?”

“If the answer is yes, then we are ready. Let us sit immediately under the auspices of the United Nations,” he said. “If the answer is no, or half an answer, or no answer at all, then we are also content, because we will at least know the truth of the reality before us and act accordingly.”

The Lebanese president expressed solidarity with Qatar, describing the Gulf state as “not just another country, but at the heart of the region, a driver of dialogue, reconciliation, and peace.”

“An attack on any brother country is an attack on us all,” Aoun said. “Qatar was targeted not to assassinate negotiators, but to assassinate the very idea of negotiation itself.”

He also urged Arab states to recommit to the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, adopted at a Beirut summit and endorsed by the Arab League, and pointed to the recent UN “New York Declaration” in support of a two-state solution as evidence of global momentum. 

The Arab Peace Initiative, first proposed by Saudi Arabia and adopted by the Arab League in 2002, offers Israel full normalization of ties with Arab states in exchange for a complete withdrawal from territories occupied since 1967, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and a just resolution to the Palestinian refugee crisis. While reaffirmed in subsequent Arab summits, the initiative has not been accepted by Israel.

“Our challenge now is clarity,” Aoun said. “If Israel says yes, let us act. If it says no, let us also act, knowing the reality before us.”