Gaza: Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah has underlined that the Palestinian issue is the struggle of right against falsehood, stressing that the continued Israeli occupation has moral, humanitarian and political repercussions on the world, and reveals Israel’s defiance of the will of the international community.
His recorded speech was broadcast yesterday at First International Scientific Conference of the Faculty of Rabat University in Gaza under the theme ‘Palestine: Reasons of Occupation and Victory Factors’.
He said an end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is a collective responsibility of the international community, adding “the age of this issue has now exceeded more than 65 years which were filled with grief and displacement of the Palestinian people, who have suffered the ravages of brutal Israeli aggression and illegal practices through continuing settlement activities, house demolitions, destruction of infrastructure, prevention of reconstruction as well as the suffocating and unjust siege of the Gaza Strip.”
Dr Al Attiyah said the Palestinian issue had passed through several stages which revealed the international community’s failure to win the right, adding, “We are experiencing international legitimacy crisis and double standards”.
He said the issue was occupation of land and then became the issue of the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem then became road maps, then became ways without maps and aggression and blockade on Gaza, and negotiations for more than two decades without a final solution to the occupation — a matter which reflects tremendous inability of the international community and the arrogance of Israel that prevent the achievement of peace and ending the occupation through Israeli violations of all international conventions reached with the Palestinians and relevant international legitimacy resolutions, along with gross irregularities and violations of international humanitarian law in the occupied territories.
He said the absence of international community efforts for ending the Israeli occupation was clear in the past when it tended to settle the dispute over interim and transitional adjustments.
“... But despite all contradictions of the current scene, the future would be for peace as history has taught that the forces of aggression would vanish,” he said.
The Foreign Minister stressed the need for joint Arab action to pressure the international community to force Israel to end occupation of the Palestinian territories, based on specific time frames according to the principle of two-state solution agreed upon by the international community.
Dr Al Attiyah stressed that the peace process should not start from scratch, but from the international legitimacy, including resolutions of Madrid 1991, Arab Peace Initiative 2002 and resolutions of international legitimacy in the light of the principle of two-state solution.
He reiterated Qatar’s firm position for providing all support to the Palestinian people to get all their legitimate rights and establish their independent state on the borders of June 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital through international law.
He called on Palestinian parties to implement agreements of reconciliation, which were concluded in Doha and Cairo to unify the Palestinian ranks to achieve the aspirations of the Palestinian people for freedom and independence.
The invitation to Dr Al Attiyah to participate in the conference came in recognition of Qatar’s efforts towards to the Palestinian people and their just cause. QNA
