Qatar Committed to Supporting Palestinian Rights, Achieving Middle East Peace
New York – Information Office – 29 November
The State of Qatar affirmed that it will carry on its commitment to uphold the legitimate rights of the fraternal Palestinian people and achieving peace in the Middle East based on the relevant international references, and continue its efforts to end conflicts and crises in the region based on its policy of settling disputes and conflicts through peaceful means.
HE Ambassador Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, the State of Qatar's permanent representative to the United Nations, made the remarks as she gave the State of Qatar's address during the 72nd U.N. General Assembly's session on the Palestinian issue.
HE Ambassador Sheikha Alia said that this year marks the passage of 50 years of Israeli and illegal occupation of the occupied Palestinian territories and the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem. She added that, given the legal and humanitarian consequences of this occupation, there must be an implementation of international law and relevant international instruments to end the occupation and its associated illegal practices.
Despite the challenges facing the establishment of peace in the Middle East, HE the ambassador said, there are important developments that have recently taken shape and carry hopes for strengthening unity and reconciliation for the Palestinian people to achieve their aspirations for a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
She reiterated the State of Qatar's welcoming of the recent reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas movements as an important step towards achieving reconciliation among the Palestinian parties and strengthening the partnership between them for the benefit of the fraternal Palestinian people, expressing hope that these developments will be an additional incentive for peace efforts.
On the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, HE the ambassador said the State of Qatar reaffirms its full solidarity with the fraternal Palestinian people and its support for international efforts aimed at achieving a lasting, just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East as well as its position in support of two states; Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security inside recognized borders based on the 1967 borders.
She said that this requires ending the occupation and exercising the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, their right to self-determination, and a just solution to the refugee issue in accordance with General Assembly Resolution 194.
HE Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani stressed that achieving peace requires adherence to international law and hard work to provide the necessary environment that will help achieve security and peace by preventing escalation. In this regard, she reiterated the condemnation of violations against religious places by the occupying power, especially the attempts to change the legal status of Al Aqsa Mosque, dividing it, and undermining the freedom of Muslims' prayer in it.
HE the permanent representative noted that the resolutions adopted annually by the General Assembly under the agenda of the Middle East and the Palestinian issue reflected the seriousness with which the international community was calling upon Israel, as the occupying power, to cease its unilateral actions in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, which contravene international law and aim to change its character, legal status and demographic composition.
These resolutions, she added, also reflect the nullity and illegality of the actions taken by Israel to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on Jerusalem and to affirm the invalidity of the occupation of the Syrian Golan, and demanding Israel's full withdrawal from there to the June 4, 1967 borders.
HE Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani said that the great and complex challenges facing the Middle East region as a result of crises and escalating conflicts reflected negatively on the peoples of the region, adding that this calls for intensification of efforts and cooperation in order to address the reasons that contributed to the outbreak and aggravation of current crises as well as the eradication of terrorism and extremism. Hence, she noted, stimulating new crises in the region contributes to the instability and complicates the situation.
At the outset of the meeting, HE Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani thanked the chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People for his statement and for all the efforts of the committee.