BANGKOK, March 28, (KUNA): The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has a duty to consider conflicts and disputes across the world and address tension spots and causes, said Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi Sun-day. Addressing the 122nd IPU Assembly, the speaker noted the current state of affairs across the globe and the need to somehow reach middle ground between the different policies and approaches to key issues puts the IPU before a great challenge. “Among top-most priorities for the Kuwaiti delegation is the Palestinian cause, which we hope would see non-stop effort till a resolution is reached that would restore the rights of the Palestinian people and allow for Palestinian statehood.”

“We ought to consider whether the advancements of the past few decades really improved conditions for people of the world,” the speaker said. This comes in line with the overall theme of “Parliament at the heart of political reconciliation and good governance” of the current IPU meetings. “We in the developing countries and the Middle East region are most concerned with this question,” he said. “Unfortunately, we are now left on our own to deal with the problems caused by globalization and international partnership, recently made worse by the global financial crisis.

The more advanced nations are pre-occupied with handling their own internal situation in this regard and are failing to shoulder their responsibility to other parts of the world”. Moving on from finance to politics, the speaker said the situation is just as unsatisfactory with many tension spots dating back to the cold war still compromising stability and security. These regions are neglected and ignored by the international community. “On all these issues, we had hoped for good governance and coordination on the part of the United Nations, which would in turn yield good results. We now have to consider whether the UN needs to adjust its systems and mechanisms which correspond to the old world order and state of things rather than our situation today.

Meanwhile, Head of the Kuwaiti Parliamentary Caucus MP Mubarak Al-Kurainj affirmed here on Sunday that countering the Israeli occupation should not be considered an act of terrorism. Speaking at the (IPU), Assembly Al-Kurainj stressed that the international community should not stand still and let Israelis desecrate holy sites in the city of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories. He called for a just international definition for terrorism and means to fight such evil. Member of the Kuwaiti Caucus, MP Mubarak Al-Maieya, called for an effective international cooperation to counter drug trafficking and other kinds of illegal activities.

In the meantime, Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) on Sunday held a meeting, to coordinate positions on issues in agenda of 122nd Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting. Member of the Kuwaiti Parliamentary Caucus Askar Al-Enzi said in a press release members of the the Arab-Islamic group in the assembly urged the other members to support the Arab proposal on devoting priority to the Israeli acts of desecration of the sanctities of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, rejecting Tel Aviv’s inclusion of Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi and Bilal Bin Rabah mosques into the list of Jewish heritage sites. APA has affirmed support for the proposal.