Jeddah, Shawwal 13, 1439, June 27, 2018, SPA -- The Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt decided to submit the issue of the sovereign airspace of the four Arab countries with Qatar which is being considered at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on the grounds that ICAO was not competent to consider that dispute. During its normal session 214, the ICAO Council considered two requests submitted by the State of Qatar to the Council requesting the activation of Article 84 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago 1944) on the Settlement of Dispute on the interpretation and application of the Chicago Convention and its annexes with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Arab Republic of Egypt, especially the closure of the sovereign airspace of the four Arab countries to of the aircraft registered in the State of Qatar, as well as preventing them from landing and taking off from the airports of the four Arab countries as well as activation of the second item of Article II concerning the settlement of the dispute over the interpretation and application of the "International Transit Services Agreement" against the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Arab Republic of Egypt. This action by the four countries to submit the case to the International Court of Justice comes in view of the decision of the ICAO Council to grant Qatar the opportunity to hear its demands, which did not include the support of these demands or to call upon the four countries to take any action. The four States decided to object to this decision because they believe that the Organization has fully exercised its technical competence through the cooperation of the four states with the organization's Regional Office in Cairo in developing international alternative airlines for Qatari aircraft in international airspace, taking into account the highest standards of air safety and security in accordance with the Emergency Plan which was discussed at the session of the Council of the Organization in the presence of the ministers concerned in the five States parties to this dispute at the meeting of the Council of the Organization held on 31 July 2017 as stated in the organization's statement at the time. In the view of the four countries, the crux of the issue is that Qatar is constantly and severely violating all the sovereign rights of the four countries, including interference in its internal affairs and supporting terrorism, making this conflict primarily a security policy, and the acceptance by the organization's' council of the study of the Qatari's claims is therefore illegal as it departs from the technical competence of the organization. --More 03:10 LOCAL TIME 00:10 GMT 0030 www.spa.gov.sa/w708666