Qatar Reiterates Call on Security Council to Implement Resolutions on Palestinian Issue

Qatar Reiterates Call on Security Council to Implement Resolutions on Palestinian Issue

New York/Information Office / 16 January 2015/ The Sate of Qatar has reiterated its call for the U.N. Security Council to implement its past resolutions and international consensus by adopting a binding decision that obliges Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories, stop all settlement activities and practices that constitute a violation of international law, and take action to move according to a clear and time-bound political plan towards achieving the two-state solution based on the well-known foundations, including the Arab peace initiative. HE Qatar's permanent representative to the United Nations Ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani made the remarks as she addressed the open-discussion session of the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East including the Palestinian issue. Sheikha Alya said Qatar has always thrived to play a positive and active role in achieving a permanent, just and sustainable settlement for the Palestinian issue ad was among the first countries to take steps towards enhancing the chances of reaching a peaceful settlement for the issue. She added that Doha is part of the international consensus on backing the rights of the Palestinian people, especially their right to self-determination, a consensus that, Sheikha Alya added, was obvious in the U.N. General Assembly's decisions in this regard an the recognition of the majority of world countries of a Palestinian state. The Qatari diplomat said Arabs and Palestinians took flexible steps that go in line with the basic rights of the Palestinian people in national unity and establishing their independent state but such steps require support and encouragement from the international community by taking several steps including ending the Israeli occupation of all Arab lands, supporting the building of Palestinian state institutions, ending the he unjust siege on the Gaza Strip, reconstructing it, and providing opportunities for a decent life for its residents. She noted that regional security, stability and peace, including that of Israel, necessitates the genuine steps of establishing a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital that lives peacefully side by side with Israel, ensuring Palestinian rights, and withdrawing from all occupied Arab territories. Sheikha Alya called for putting an end to violations against sacred sites and freedom of worship in Palestine by Israeli authorities who try to break into Al-Aqsa Mosque and prevent worshippers from entering it, stressing that Qatar condemns such violations that threaten chances of achieving peace in the Middle East. A few months after the donors conference on Gaza reconstruction in Cairo, she added, the Strip still awaits reconstruction efforts that are extremely significant considering the absolute damage in infrastructure, residential buildings and public facilities that resulted from the recent Israeli aggression on Gaza, noting that Qatar addressed the huge humanitarian needs in Gaza by pledging $1 billion during the conference to reconstruction efforts there. HE Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani touched on the this year's waves of bitter cold in the region and its painful effects on the millions of Syrian and Iraqi refugees and displaced, which, she said, calls for the fulfillment of the international community's humanitarian and moral duty towards these vulnerable groups and raising the level of financial and moral support to them, she said. She added that this hard humanitarian situation must be a further motivation to put an end to the original reasons for this crisis, noting that Qatar responded to the appeals of the United Nations by continuing to provide urgent humanitarian aid to the refugee and displaced persons and became the biggest contributor to the United Nations Emergency Response Fund for Syria. Entering its fifth year, the crisis in Syria obliges everyone to work to put an end to the terrible crimes and terrors perpetrated by the regime in Syria, which led to the destabilization of the region and the spread of the phenomenon of terrorism and foreign fighters terrorists, said Sheikha Alya, adding that everyone agrees that the solution to the Syrian crisis lies in a political transition on the basis of Geneva declaration to achieve the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people. The Qatari diplomat said that non-compliance with Security Council resolutions, in particular resolution 2118, is alarming, pointing to the latest report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) fact-finding mission which proved the allegations of the systematic use of prohibited chemical weapons in Syria such as chlorine gas. Sheikha Alya reaffirmed Qatar's position in support for the Syrian people in ending all forms violence and crimes against them and achieving their legitimate aspirations in order to preserve the sovereignty, independence and unity of Syria. She offered condolences to the French government and people on the victims of the terrorist attack in France, which was condemned by the Qatari government, and expressed strong disapproval of the incident and all acts that target civilians and contradict with principles of moral and human values.