Arabs need to have a collective, strong stance to confront imminent challenges and threats, Gargash tells Arab League meeting

Cairo, 14th September, 2015 (WAM) -- Arab countries need to redouble their efforts and intensify sustained, coordinated work to collectively and effectively address and confront the increasingly complicated, severe crises and imminent threats, Dr. Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, told the opening sitting of the 144th Session of the Arab League's Council at the League's Secretariat-General in Cairo yesterday. Admitting that the UAE was taking over the Arab League's rotating presidency during exceptional circumstances, Dr. Gargash, in his keynote address, said, ''It is no secret that our countries are facing existential threats to sovereignty, security and stability and our efforts towards prosperity of our peoples.'' He indicated that Arab countries were facing challenges that have put them on test between endeavours of foreign intervention into their internal affairs and internal threats in the form of conspiracies engineered by groups with goals that are far away from serving national interests in addition to the rapidly increasing terrorist acts which significantly destabilise regional security and safety as well as the organised, systematic intervention by neighbouring countries in the Arabs' internal affairs. ''Terrorism and other related criminal acts that primarily threaten our Arab World have regrettably found a fertile ground and support and sponsorship from other forces, either in the form of funding or arms, with the intention to harm our Arab Nation. What is making this menace of terrorism extremely dangerous is the fact that it is being disguised in the cloak of the tolerant Islam. The terrorists are destroying, distorting and abusing our cultural and civilisational heritage and are targeting the nation's youth by employing misleading propaganda that undermines their faith and belief in their homeland,'' Dr. Gargash told the pan-Arab meeting after taking over the presidency from Jordan. 'The scale of the risk we are facing imposes upon us the responsibility to take effective measures to counter these threats, mainly by protecting our youth from falling prey to the destructive propaganda of the terrorist groups and also by cutting off their sources of funding," the UAE minister said. ''Terrorism has no religion even if it takes a false religious form.... Likewise, it has no country and it targets state after state. Make no mistake no one among us is immune from its danger and the previous experiments stand as strong proof of it. ''It is high time that we put all resolutions, notably those issued by Arab summits, regarding counter-terrorism in place and turn them into policies, measures and mechanisms that are applicable on the ground and also activate the Arab counter-terrorism agreements. There is also a need to develop legal and legislative mechanism to prevent terrorist crimes,'' he said, stressing that terrorism today is targeting the pillars of the modern nation state and its institutions, seeking to destabilise its structures and institutions, and exposing its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity to threats. The UAE, he underscored, believes that it is necessary to take quick and effective measures to counter this phenomenon by promoting the moderate religious discourse that addresses and tackles terrorism and extremism, and refutes extremist, radical and sectarian ideologies. ''The Arab media message also needs to be further improved by deepening the values of moderation and tolerance upon which we were raised and which we learnt from our tolerant Islam. It is also important to introduce measures that prevent extremist thought and incitements to commit terrorist acts,'' he said. Dr. Gargash asserted that the continuing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the absence of any solution to the Palestinian cause through the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state as per the June 4th, 1967 border lines with East Jerusalem as its capital in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative, remain key factors behind regional instability. He attributed some acts of violence in the region to feelings of depression and injustice in which the Palestinian people find themselves and the unjustifiable silence of the international community and its inability to re-launch the peace process. ''No security or stability will prevail in the Arab region as long as the Palestinian cause remains without a resolution and the humanitarian suffering of the Palestinian people persists under Israeli oppressive practices and violations of international laws." The minister also blamed the settlement policy as the main and direct factor behind the failure and deadlock in the peace process. On the three UAE islands occupied by Iran, Dr. Gargash reiterated the UAE's absolute rejection of the continuous Iranian occupation of the three islands of Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa and demanded restoration of the UAE's full sovereignty on them. He explained that the measures and actions taken by the Iranian authorities were in breach of the principles of the UN Charter and international laws and norms. ''We repeat our call from this platform to the international community to urge Iran to accept the repeated, sincere and peaceful calls by the UAE to reach a just settlement on the issue, either through serious bilateral negotiations or by taking the issue to the International Court of Justice,'' he said. ''We also renew our rejection of Iran's intervention in the internal affairs of some sisterly Arab countries by triggering troubles and sedition between the people of one nation. We also demand Iran to reconsider its policy towards the region, respect the good neighbourhood principles and commit itself to the principle of non-interference in others' internal affairs,'' Dr. Gargash added. Iran's response to these sincere calls, he went on to say, would contribute to preserving stability in the region and supporting inter-state cooperation which will elevate Arab-Iranian relations, a goal which will not be reached if Iran insisted on same policy. On Yemen, the UAE minister emphasised the need for sustained and serious work that safeguard the unity and political independence of the Arab country. ''We call on the Houthi rebels to comply with and implement all international relevant resolutions, notably the UN Security Council Resolution 2216 and other relevant resolutions issued by the 26th Arab Summit held in Egyptian resort city of Sharm El Sheikh which all call on the rebel forces to withdraw from Yemeni cities, hand over their arms to the legitimate authority, ensure unfettered access to humanitarian relief operations and keep key airports and seaports open to back humanitarian efforts to address the worrying situation. We also call on them to accept the internationally-sponsored political references with our full support for the outcome of the national dialogue to end the Yemeni crisis under the auspices of President Abbd Rabu Mansour Hadi. At the same time, we confirm our support for the UN special envoy for Yemen to implement the UNSC Resolution 2216 and his efforts to reach a political solution to the crisis. Dr. Gargash stressed the UAE's commitment to providing all support to the Yemeni people from humanitarian and relief assistance to resources for building state institutions until security, stability and development take root in Yemen. He referred to the month-long ''Yemen We care'' appeal launched by the Emirates Red Crescent recently and which raised more than Dh 500 million within few days to help ten million Yemenis. ''The constant initiatives launched by the leadership, government and people of the UAE towards the Yemeni people underscore our firm belief that standing with Yemen is not an option, rather it is an inevitable necessity and a key pillar of the UAE foreign policy,'' the minister affirmed. Dr. Gargash highlighted the role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, led by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, in rallying the Arab coalition to confront the rebellion of the Houthi militias and their allies against the security, safety and unity of Yemen. The Saudi role reflected the strong belief in integration of the Arab security in this important part of the Arab World and in the need to stand united against plots of foreign intervention in Yemen and against attempts to incite sectarian wars between people of one nation. ''The bloods of our martyrs, who fell in defence of the right, justice and legitimacy in Yemen, will not go in vain, rather they will further stiffen our resolve and will within the Arab coalition to remove injustice, support the Yemeni people and rescue Yemen from the clutches of the outlaw militias which committed destruction and corruption in the country,'' he said. Speaking about Libya, the UAE minister said,'' We look with grave concern at the escalating political crisis in Libya and the spread of extremism and terrorism in Libya, a matter that requires us to maximise efforts to bring stability by supporting the legitimate government in order to stand against the terrorist, criminal groups which aim to deplete national resources, threaten sisterly Arab countries and friendly African countries. They also target security and safety of some European countries.'' ''We must all back the legitimate government and contribute to building state institution, particularly the military which seeks to build a strong national army that is capable of realising security and stability and defeating the terrorist groups. We also express our support for efforts being made by the UN special envoy for Libya, Bernardino Leon, to reach a political solution to the Libyan crisis. We also call for swift implementation of the UN plan to spare the country the scenarios of institutional vacuum.'' As for the Syrian crisis, the UAE minister said,'' We stress the importance of efforts aimed at achieving security and stability in Syria in a manner that preserves the territorial integrity of Syria and its national institutions and ends the crisis in a way that fulfils aspirations of the Syrian people, who have been suffering for years from the scourge of war, conflict and spread of sectarianism which forced the Syrians out of their homeland.'' He added that terrorist organisations had exploited the vacuum created by the deteriorating political and humanitarian situation and the increasing number of refugees. He warned that these tragic conditions threaten security and stability of the Arab region. However, he underlined the urgency of Arab joint coordination and cooperation to crystallise a common vision for serious measures to rescue Syria and safeguard regional security by reaching a political settlement based on Geneva peace conference (1). The minister said that scenes of the Syrian refugees who were desperately seeking for a safe shelter and decent life put the whole world before a real test. There should be no option between a president killing his citizens or a brutal terrorist, killer. ''An urgent Arab action is needed to get out of this dark tunnel.'' ''The UAE, out of its established policy, has not been quick to provide assistance to the Syrian people since the onset of the crisis in 2011. The UAE has welcomed more than 100,000 Syrian nationals from all segments of Syrian society and all religious sects and has extended residency permits to them in the UAE. This has brought the number of Syrian resident in the UAE close to 250,000., Dr. Gargash said, affirming that criticism levelled by some circles in international political and media gathering about stances of Arab countries towards the tragedy of the Syrian refugees were untrue. The UAE, he added, has been one of the leading providers of humanitarian aid and development assistance to Syrian refugees in Syria and other parts of the region. Overall, the UAE has provided over US$ 500 million in humanitarian and development aid since the beginning of the conflict. In 2015, the UAE pledged an additional US$ 100 million in support of Syrian refugees, 40 million of which has been spent so far. ''The UAE has contributed some US$ 70 million over the past two years to various refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and Turkey. The UAE, together with Germany, established the Syria Recovery Trust Fund (SRTF) in 2013 to restore essential services in areas under control of the Syrian Interim Government. ''The UAE believes that there can be no long-term solution to the refugee problem, without a sustainable political solution to the conflict in Syria, '' he added. – Emirates News Agency, WAM - http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395285517500.html http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395285518753.html http://www.wam.ae/en/news/emirates/1395285521645.html