DHAKA: Saudi Arabia told Israel on Tuesday that it must reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians if it is to survive as a nation, and criticized Muslims for being divided and failing to stop the Jewish state attacking its Arab neighbors.

‘Israel has to realize that peace is the only solution for its survival,’ Saudi foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the world’s largest Muslim body, on the situation in the Gaza Strip.

‘As we see, Israel does not shy away from taking its terror to any level, with total disregard to any laws, rules, religious edicts or humanitarian considerations to achieve its goals.’

‘Its only objective is to uproot the Palestinian existence wherever it is,’ Prince Saud told the meeting in Jeddah, attended by Palestinian prime minister Rami Hamdallah and ministers from the 56-member OIC, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 2117 HRS, AUG 12, 2014