‘Confront Israeli provocations’
This news has been read 10470 times!
NEW YORK, Dec 19, (KUNA): United Nations Security Council must not remain inactive toward systematic Israeli crimes against the unarmed Palestinians, Kuwait emphasizes. Such offenses are tantamount to crimes against humanity, according to the international humanitarian laws, said the Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi.
“We ought to shoulder our responsibility as members (of the UNSC),” he added, addressing a UNSC session on the Middle East. “Isn’t it high time that we bear the responsibility as members of the Security Council and put an end to persistence on part of Israel, the de facto occupation power, with respect of its provocative and illegitimate conducts, premeditated and dangerous breaches of international and UN resolutions including its systematic violations of the Resolution 2334” Al-Otaibi asked the attending colleagues, envoys of nations from across the world.
Ambassador Al-Otaibi urged the UN Secretary-General implement the UN General Assembly resolution on protecting Palestinian civilians, as stipulated in the UN chief latest report. He also called on states and institutions of the international community to participate in the protection of the Palestinians, form an effective mechanism to implement the resolution and the UN report. Al-Otaibi has demanded implementation of the UNSC Resolution 2334, which affirms that the Israeli settlement policy constitutes blatant violation of the international law and obstacle on the path for peace.
He insisted that Israel, the occupation de facto force, must immediately halt settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem. Moreover, the senior Kuwaiti diplomat asserted necessity of translating into action other relevant UN resolutions that brand the settlements as illegitimate, namely resolutions 465, 1980, 497 and 1981.
In his lengthy address, the State of Kuwait Representative thanked Nikolay Mladenov, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, for his efforts in seeking a common ground for a settlement to the crisis. Kuwait fully supports Mladenov’s mission for attaining peace, amid the prolonged plight, suffered by the Palestinian people on daily basis — struggling to bear the brunt of the occupation cruelty since decades ago. Envoy Al-Otaibi praised Mladenov’s efforts with the stakeholders to try improve daily life of the population in Gaza. Such efforts have led to completing the joint review of the mechanism for rebuilding Gaza, he said, hoping that the re-examination recommendations would be put into action by Jan 1. Furthermore, Al-Otaibi wished that the UN chief present a written report about implementation of the Resolution 2334 for this month, in follow-up to the first report that should have been delivered in June, in response to a request in this respect by 10 member states of the UNSC, “however, this regretfully did not happen.” He called for increasing number of reports about implementation of the Resolution 2334, in 2019, indicating that Mladenov’s presentation on the West Bank affirmed anew how dangerous the situation there is due to the Israeli crimes and offenses on the Palestinians’ territories and their uncompromising rights.
Latest of these crimes was the Israeli military aggression, on Nov 11, in Gaza and the other occupied lands, targeting civilian souls, buildings, media outlets and infrastructure. The recent Israeli aggression claimed lives of scores of martyrs and many injured, he said, singling out the cruel crime that took the life of a four-year-old Palestinian. “Who among you has seen the funeral of the child Ahmad Abu Abed in Khan Younes” That was the 42nd such crime against the Palestinian children since March, where a total of 230 Palestinians had fallen as martyrs. Moreover, more than 24,000 others were wounded. According to Doctors without Borders’ reports, more than 1,000 of those injured were eternally maimed and that was due to live ammunition used by the occupation Israeli forces.
The Kuwaiti representative renewed the condemnation of recurring Israeli aggression on the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque, affirming that Israeli has illicit schemes to alter identity of the Muslims’ sanctities and lauding Jordan for its plan to hold an international conference on Dec 20 (Thursday) to rally support for the mosque, Jerusalem and the Muslims’ holy sites. He re-rejected Israel’s occupation of the Christian and Muslim sacred places and restricting the Muslims’ free movement to perform the rituals.
Al-Otaibi saluted a draft resolution presented by Ireland, on Dec 4, for resolving the Middle East issue, re-noting that the aspired compromise could be attained through adherence to the international legitimacy, the international law and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative (proclaimed at an Arab summit held in Beirut at the time). The Arab initiative calls for comprehensive peace with Israel, normalizing ties with it, provided that Israel ends its occupation of the Palestinian and Arab lands that have been seized since 1967.
He explained further that the initiative stipulates that Tel Aviv must recognize the State of Palestine, the uncompressing Palestinians’ rights including their right to self-determination. Furthermore, reminding the session attendees of the Arab initiative details, he noted that it affirms right of the Palestinians in diaspora to return home and resolving their plight justly according to the UNGA Resolution 194 (1948).
This news has been read 10470 times!
