KUWAIT: Minister of Social Affairs and Minister of State for Women and Children’s Affairs Sheikh Fares Al-Sabah has praised the efforts of charities inside and outside of Kuwait. This came in a press release commemorating the honoring of a number of charities with the attendance of multiple top officials in fields of charitable and humanitarian work. Al-Sabah stressed the importance of automation and digitalization in charitable work, which contributed to achieving the ministry and charities’ goals, adding that the ministry played a huge role in supporting charity work by solving their problems and easing their difficulties.

The Social Development Assistant Secretary at the Ministry, Khaled Al-Ajmi, said in a similar statement that this honoring comes to shed light on the role of the charities with certificates of conformity and their efforts. Chief of Al-Eslah Society (Islamic Society for Social Reform), Dr Khaled Al-Mathkour, praised the role of the ministry toward humanitarian and charitable work, adding that the ministry reflects Kuwait’s work in the fields on an international level.

Aid campaign

Backed by the Secretariat of Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation, Al-Tadamon (solidarity), a Palestinian charity, distributed 650 food parcels to Palestinian families in the West Bank city of Nablus. The food assistance, supervised by the Kuwait Society for Relief, cost more than $31,000; it is part of an aid project launched by Al-Tadamon on December 13 in Nablus governorate, the charity said in a press release on Saturday.

The project covered the needs of as many vulnerable people as possible, particularly those who were affected by the onslaught of occupation forces on Gaza and the West Bank, the statement noted. The chairman of the charity, Alaa Maqboul, noted that there are a large number of families who are still in constant need of aid as they have lost their lives due to the current aggression in Gaza. Appreciating Kuwait’s supportive stance towards the Palestinian people, Maqboull thanked the Awqaf Public Foundation and KSR for funding and supervising the aid project.

‘End Gaza genocide’

In another development, the Arab Parliament (AP) called for halting “the genocide” in the Gaza Strip immediately and opening safe humanitarian corridors to the Gazans via a UN mechanism. In the final communiqué of a session on “backing Palestine and Gaza,” held upon Kuwait’s request, the AP renewed its rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinian people from their homes in all forms, urging action to return those internally displaced.

The conferees slammed international silence and the failure of the UN Security Council to issue a ceasefire resolution in the Strip. They condemned support by the countries, which frequently advocate human rights, for the Zionist occupation forces’ crimes, termed “genocide,” against Palestinian people. The legislature referred to its international and regional actions to halt the war on Gaza via several parallel paths, including ongoing communication with the international and regional parliamentary unions.

It called on Arab and Islamic countries to necessarily stop exporting oil and gas to the countries that back the Zionist entity in its continued crimes against Palestinians. The AP called on the UN to hold a special session titled “Union for Peace” in line with the organization’s laws and resolution 277 on an immediate ceasefire and to provide protection to Palestinians, according to the communiqué.

It underlined the importance of empowering the Human Rights Council to probe the crimes of the Zionist occupation committed against Palestinian people, calling on the International Criminal Court to carry out its duty through a special committee under the supervision of the Court’s Prosecutor. The AP called on all relevant parties in the international system to “stop pirating the funds of the Palestinian people” by the occupation authorities, asking the Arab countries to help Palestinian people in line with the financial network through the government of Palestine amid difficult circumstances that require Arab solidarity, it noted.

The conferees underlined the need to strengthen the role and status of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its various frameworks as “the only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” calling on all factions to join the organization in accordance with its regulations and commitments to unite all Palestinians.

They affirmed the necessity of adhering to the Arab Peace Initiative by stopping normalization with the occupying entity until the political rights of the Palestinian people are recognized. Additionally, they also called for freezing all relations with this entity and withdrawing ambassadors from Zionist entity, urging the launch of the legal committee stemming from the Arab Islamic Summit to collect the decisions related to the ongoing violations against the Palestinian people and prepare a legal case with the relevant competent authorities.

The AP affirmed its support for the Palestinian people and their cause, which is “the first central issue of the Arab nation” on official and popular levels. It expressed appreciation to the Palestinian people for their steadfastness and struggle to defend their land, stressing the need for all international parties to assume their responsibilities to achieve security, peace, and stability in the Middle East region. It called for every effort to ensure that the Palestinian people obtain their legitimate and inalienable rights to return, freedom, self-determination, and the establishment of their independent state on the lines of June 4, 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital. — KUNA