KUWAIT: Kuwait called on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to immediately end Israeli crimes and violence against Palestinians, especially that the world is facing the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. The remarks came in written speech, presented by Kuwait's permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi, during the UNSC's session on the situation in the Middle East late Tuesday. Kuwait and other Arab countries have boosted their efforts to stand in the face of Israeli escalation in the past few months, as the world was trying to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Otaibi.

Meanwhile, he noted that in June, UNSC's member-states warned Israel against annexation and considered it a violation of the international law. Israel continues to expand settlements, violating UN resolution 2334, and it is also preventing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, he added. The Kuwaiti diplomat affirmed that Israel will take the opportunity in every global crisis to escalate attacks against Palestinians, calling on UNSC to exert further efforts to bring Israel to justice.

He also called on ending arrest operations, destroying Palestinian buildings, protect Palestinians against the crimes of settlers and end the 13-year siege on Gaza. Otaibi underlined the importance of expanding the work of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).He reaffirmed Kuwait's commitment to the views of the Arab and Islamic World on the peace process and the two-states solution and having an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. - KUNA