Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz today chaired the regular weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers, which described Israel's continuing aggression against the Palestinian people as unprecedented in history, and stated that the resultant deteriorating situation requires accurate study by the international community in general with a view to curbing the extremist Israeli approach and forcing the Jewish state to act within the framework of the United Nation's resolutions that aim at bringing about a fair and comprehensive peace in the Middle East. The cabinet went on to express full support for the communiqué issued by the foreign ministers of the member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council who met in Jeddah this week, calling for Arab and Muslim countries to unify ranks and exert efforts in support of the Palestinian struggle until lands are liberated, the refugees return, and their independent state is established with Al-Quds [Jerusalem] as its capital. The 80th session of the GCC foreign ministers' council also gave assurances on progress towards unification and cooperation among the organization's six countries.

King Fahd opened the meeting by briefing the cabinet on the messages he had sent to a number of Arab heads of state as part of the ongoing consultation and exchange of viewpoints aimed at reaching a concerted position towards the risks facing the Arab World.
The cabinet passed a number of resolutions, including endorsement of the Kingdom's accession to the agreement on peaceful settlement of international disputes that was concluded in The Hague on October 18, 1997; the recommendation, after reviewing fiscal reports for the General Organization for Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVT), that the Saudi side in joint committees for economic and technical cooperation with advanced countries urge those countries as well as international industrial companies to adopt new programs for technical and technological cooperation with the Kingdom, including the establishment of specialized training institutes in Saudi Arabia to help in training young Saudis; directions that part of the revenues of the human resources development fund, originally designed to help create jobs for unemployed Saudis, be directed to finance small enterprises and businesses owned by graduates of vocational institutes; and extension for one more year of the commercial and economical agreement with the Arab Republic of Syria.

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