Kuwait renews commitment to Palestine cause

NEW YORK, Feb 20 (KUNA) -- Kuwait's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mansour Al-Otaibi on Tuesday reaffirmed that his country spared no effort to solve Palestine question that constitutes the central issue of all Arabs and Muslims.
Before taking up its non-permanent seat at UN Security Council earlier this year, the State of Kuwait considered support to Palestine question a main pillar in its foreign policy, Ambassador Al-Otaibi, the UNSC Chair for February, noted at a UNSC meeting on the situation in the Middle East.
He affirmed that Kuwait's principled stance stemmed from strong belief in the right of brotherly people of Palestine to establish an independent state with east Jerusalem as its capital as per the provisions of the relevant UNSC resolutions.
The Israeli violations of the rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories continued unabated in contravention to the international humanitarian law and the UNSC resolutions, he pointed out.
Also addressing the meeting were UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Process Nikolay Mladenov and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Ambassador Al-Otaibi welcomed the participation of the UN Secretary-General and Palestinian President in the UNSC debate of the Palestinian question, which remained a common concern for the international community for more than five decades.
He said President Abbas's presence provides "an invaluable chance" for getting a first-hand account of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and an insight into what the international community needs to do vis-أ -vis the situation in the Middle East, the implementation of the UN Charter and the Palestinian people's self-determination. He blamed Israel, the occupying power, for planting obstacles before the Middle East peace process, urging the UNSC member states to work for implementing the relevant resolutions pursuant to Article 25 of the UN Charter.
"The failure of the international community to find a fair, comprehensive and permanent solution to the Middle East provided ground for the emergence of new crises in the region, including extremism and terrorism," Ambassador Al-Otaibi said.
He cited as an example the violence that broke out following the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel.
"We call on the US administration, out of belief in its role in the peace process, to work with the international community for forcing Israel into implementing the resolutions of the international legitimacy and ending the occupation of the Palestinian and other Arab territories," he stressed.
Ambassador Al-Otaibi also called for halting the illegitimate Jewish settlement activities in the occupied territories pursuant to the UNSC resolution 2334 and resisting any attempts to change the legal, historical or demographical status quo in the occupied territories, particularly the holy city of Jerusalem. (pickup previous) asf.gb