Qatar Urges UN Security Council to Press on Israel to End Occupation of Arab territories

New York, October 22 (QNA) - The State of Qatar has renewed its call for the UN Security Council to take a binding decision for Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories, and stop illegal settlement and all practices that violate international law, as well as to take actions to move with a clear political and time-limited plan towards the two-State solution. It said the security, stability and peace in the region, including the security of Israel, requires courage and real steps towards the solution of the establishment of a Palestinian State based on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side in peace with Israel, and guarantee the rights of the Palestinian people, and also the withdrawal from all other occupied Arab lands including the occupied Syrian Golan, the Shab'a farms and Ghajar in Lebanon. This came in Qatar statement delivered today by HE Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al-Thani, the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations before a meeting of the open debate of the UN Security Council on the item "the situation in the Middle East including the Palestinian question". HE Sheikha Alia said: "We agree with you on the importance of the members of the Security Council and other United Nations members discussing how best to realize a rapid progress towards the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East, and specifically to achieve a two-State solution as we have seen in the recent escalation in Gaza is a reminder of the importance of finding sustainable solutions to the situation in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory as temporary solutions or partial settlements are counterproductive and unacceptable, she added. HE Sheikha Alia said it is high time that the Security Council should take the legal and moral responsibility and act to guarantee that such escalation would not to be repeated as that resulted in a regrettable humanitarian consequences on both sides, particularly the Palestinians. She stressed that need to stop violations of holy places and freedom of worship in Palestine by the Israeli authorities where a serious policy against Al-Haram Al-Sharif was adopted including attempts to prevent worshippers from entering in. She added that the State of Qatar strongly condemns and rejects such violations that would increase tension and instability in the region. Sheikha Alia said the State of Qatar was among the countries that had sought and seeks to play an active, positive and sincere role towards achieving permanent and just solution to the Palestinian issue and it has been in the forefront of States that have taken bold steps towards supporting the prospects for a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question. The State of Qatar has made diplomatic efforts during the recent military escalation in the Gaza Strip, in order to end the violence and stop the bloodshed, and that these efforts have contributed to reaching the agreement that ended the military escalation, HE Sheikha Alia added.(QNA)