Qatar Renews Support for Efforts to Achieve Just Peace in Middle East

Qatar Renews Support for Efforts to Achieve Just Peace in Middle East

New York/ Information Office/ 01 December 2016/ The State of Qatar reaffirmed its full solidarity with the Palestinian people and its support for the international efforts to achieve lasting, just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, expressing condemnation of the violations carried out by Israel.

This came in a statement of the State of Qatar delivered by HE the Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Thani to the 71st session of the UN General Assembly on 'The situation in the Middle East' (item 34) and the 'Question of Palestine' (item 35), at the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.

HE the Third Secretary of Qatar's Permanent Mission to the UN said that the Middle East region is facing serious challenges as a result of the escalating crises and conflicts, which will reflect negatively on the peoples of the region and will impede their enjoyment of fundamental rights, welfare and development.

HE added that the effects of these crises in the region will also reflect negatively on the world as a whole, so that priority should be given to achieving stability and peace in this important region by addressing the causes of these crises, particularly the failure in addressing serious violations of international law and the international legitimacy resolutions as well as the inability to apply the standards of justice and fairness.

HE Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Thani stressed that achieving a just and comprehensive peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict is still at the forefront of issues in the region, adding that the achievement of this goal requires an end to the Israeli occupation of Arab territories, as the past seven decades of occupation confirmed that imposing the policy of fait accompli will not achieve security and peace for the peoples of the region, but will worsen the situation, as well as it is a violation of the international law.

HE noted that the initiative of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People to mark the year 2017 as "the international day to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine" including East Jerusalem, is based on legal and factual justifications that would ease tensions between the concerned parties and push the peace process forward.

HE the Third Secretary of Qatar's Permanent Mission to the UN renewed Qatar's rejection and condemnation for the violations carried out by Israel of the Islamic and Christian holy places, particularly the attempts to change the legal status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and divide it in time and space, as well as the undermining of the freedom of Muslim prayers in it, welcoming at the same time the resolution adopted by the Executive Board of UNESCO in October on Palestine and the resolution of the World Heritage Committee which affirmed that the Haram al-Sharif Jerusalem is an Islamic heritage and Israel must be committed to maintaining its historical status.

HE the Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the UN Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Thani added that the resolutions taken by the General Assembly each year under the Middle East and Palestine Items reflect the seriousness of the international community to demand Israel, as an occupying power, to cease its unilateral actions in the Occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, which contradict to the international law and aimed at altering its character, status and demographic composition.

HE pointed out that these resolutions reflect the emphasis on the illegality and invalidity of the Israeli actions to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on Jerusalem, as well as on the invalidity of the occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights and a demand for a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders.

He stressed that the time has come to reach a comprehensive, just and lasting solution on the basis of the relevant United Nations resolutions, the terms of reference of the Madrid Conference including land for peace principle, Arab Peace Initiative and the Road Map, as that solution is represented in the presence of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security on the basis of the 1967 borders, adding that this requires Israel's withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, realizing the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, primarily the right to self-determination and the establishment of their independent state, and a just solution to the refugee issue in accordance with General Assembly resolution 194 (III).

HE said that negotiations should be resumed on the basis of reference frame and within a specific timetable in order to accelerate the achievement of a just, lasting and comprehensive settlement.

He added: "What we have witnessed of escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territory is a result of the continuing occupation, illegal practices, adopting excessive violence policy against Palestinians, and increasing of crimes committed by Israeli extremists against the Palestinians, without accountability, so the Palestinians' protest is to be expected being a reaction to the continued denial of their basic rights and the violation of the sanctity of the holy sites, and a reflection of dissipating their hopes to establish their independent state as well as to reach a just and definitive solution to their cause."

HE the Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the UN Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Thani stressed that the international community must provide an international protection for the Palestinian people and enforce relevant Security Council resolutions, particularly resolutions 904 (1994) and 605 (1987) concerning the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He stressed that the continues of the unjust blockade of Gaza, denying the residents from basic life requirements, blocking their movement to and from the Strip, and imposing restrictions on entering construction materials needed to rebuild what were destroyed by the Israeli war machine are leaving devastating impacts not only on the human level, but on the overall efforts to advance the peace process.

The State of Qatar will continue its humanitarian efforts to meet its obligations in the reconstruction and stabilization in the sector as it aware to the importance of addressing the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and its positive impacts in supporting efforts to achieve peace.

In this context, he noted to the opening of the city of HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani Schools, adding that efforts will continued to achieve Palestinian reconciliation.

He said that while the international community seeks to achieve sustainable development goals, the "de-development" policies imposed by the occupying power, create an obstacle to the possibility of achieving the Palestinian people to those goals, pointing out that according to the report of the Secretariat of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Palestinian economy incurs substantial costs as a result of the Israeli occupation.

In this regard, a comprehensive, sustainable and based framework of evidence is required within the United Nations system to estimate those costs as suggested by the (UNCTAD) secretariat.