Mansour Al-Otaibi

NEW YORK: The Zionist occupation policies required counter political and legal measures to hold it accountable for its systematic violations of the Palestinian people's rights, Kuwait Permanent representative to the UN has said. Mansour Al-Otaibi, in a statement to UN Security Council's open debate about Palestine Tuesday night, called for cessation of Zionist occupation's arbitrary arrests, demolishing and confiscating of Palestinian buildings and properties, forced deportation of civilians, Jewish settlers' crimes against Palestinians, the siege on Gaza Strip in addition to repeated attacks on sacred Islamic and Christian sites. He said the UNSC session was held amidst critical challenges, foremost coronavirus pandemic which claimed more than 4.7 million people, as well as growing food security crisis and economic recession.

Otaibi said the Zionist entity, the occupying force, "is exploiting the international community's preoccupation with "this critical battle" against the pandemic to continue with its hostile policies against Palestinian people in a clear reminder that it would keep on annexing more Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Zionist occupation, he added, sought to continue its illegal policies by building thousands of Jewish housing units and annexation of territories in a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions, namely resolution 2334.

He noted that the Zionist occupation has recently announced resumption of construction of 10,000 housing units in the occupied northern Jerusalem as well as demolishing of Palestinian houses in Selwan. "What worries us the most is continuation of violent acts committed by the Zionist settlers and Zionist security forces against the unarmed Palestinian people, as the Zionist security forces opened fire at at least 60 Palestinians in the West Bank and killed them," he said.

Otaibi said more than 260 Palestinians, including 66 children and 41 women, were killed in Gaza Strip so far this year. These actions, he went on, were "new war crimes added to the Zionist record which is full of vicious crimes against the Palestinian people, human rights violations, UN Charter and resolutions, and international law." The Zionist occupation wants to abort any Palestinian hope to establish an independent, viable and sovereignty state, he said.

Otaibi said the region would remain unstable unless the Palestinian people get all their political rights and Zionist occupation ended its violations of international humanitarian law, like ending construction of settlements, confiscation of lands, lifting siege on Gaza and desecration of holy sites.

He underlined importance of relaunching peace negotiations within a specific time frame to reach just and comprehensive peace in line with relevant UN resolutions and Arab peace initiative in order to establish the independent Palestinian state in the June 4, 1967, borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital and return of refugees. Otaibi commended the historic role of UNRWA to which Kuwait recently donated $21.5 million to provide educational, health and social services for Palestinian refugees. - KUNA