NEW YORK, Sept 22 (KUNA) - Kuwait on Friday called on the international community to exercise pressure upon Israel to abide by UN resolutions to pave way for the establishment of the independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Israel should also comply with resolution 2334, which considered the Jewish settlements illegal and abort chances of peace, First Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah said in a speech before an Organization of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) ministerial meeting in New York.
He condemned Israel's recent measures in Al-Aqsa Mosque, the judaization of occupied Jerusalem to change its Arabic identity.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said that Kuwait, out of its keenness to help the Palestinian people would be hosting an international conference about the suffering of the Palestinian children next November.
He, meanwhile, called for doubling of efforts to find a peaceful resolution of the Syrian conflict in line with the UN resolution 2254 and the communique of 2012 Geneva I conference.
The Syrian crisis, he noted, killed some 470,000 people, forced three million to see refuge in neighboring countries and displaced 6.5 million others.
He said there were 13.5 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance.
Kuwait hosted three international donor conferences in 2013, 2014 and 2015, as well as co-chaired two conferences in London and Brussels. Kuwait contributed USD 1.6 billion in the five meetings and the sums were distributed to regional and international organizations.
On Iraq, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled said Kuwait would be hosting an international donor conference to rebuild Iraqi areas liberated from so-called Islamic State (IS).
He said Kuwait also approved a request by the Iraqi government to postpone payment of compensations, for three consecutive years, for damage caused by the 1990-91 Iraqi invasion and occupation.
The Kuwaiti move, he added, "was in response to the difficult economic conditions Iraq is experiencing." Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled thanked OIC for organizing a conference in the Saudi city of Makkah to bring all Iraqi parties to the table.
On Yemen, the Kuwaiti top diplomat rejected any foreign interference in the country's internal affairs, and reiterated that the solution to the conflict should be based on outcome of national dialogue, the GCC initiative and its implementation mechanism as well as UN resolution 2216.
Kuwait, he added, provide USD 100 million to help alleviate suffering of the needy Yemeni people.
Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled on the other hand condemned the genocide, forced deportation and ethnic cleansing committed by the government forces in Myanmar against the Rohingya Muslim minority in the country 'whose only guilt is being Muslims." The international community must exercise pressure on the government of Myanmar to stop these criminal actions, he said, while thanking the government of Bangladesh for hosting the Rohingya refugees.
Kuwait also provided USD 1.5 million in aid to help the Rohingya Muslims. (end) bs.asf