NEW YORK: The State of Kuwait has re-affirmed its commitment to continuous support for rights of the Palestinian people and all efforts aimed at enabling them attain their legitimate rights. "I renew my country's unwavering and principled stance of standing alongside the Palestinian people to end their plight and support their options for attaining all their legitimate rights," said the State of Kuwait's Minister Plenipotentiary Talal Al-Fassam during a session of the United Nations General Assembly on Palestine.

The session has coincided with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People that fell on November 29. This day is being observed in response to a call by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1977. Kuwait's Minister Plenipotentiary Fassam has expressed distress that the Palestinian people have been simultaneously suffering from affliction of the novel coronavirus and the Israeli occupation.

Fassam has denounced Israel's schemes of speeding up construction of illegal settlements in explicit breach of the international law and relevant UN resolutions, namely Security Council Resolution 2334. This resolution, adopted in 2016, re-affirmed that Israel's establishment of settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, had no legal validity, constituting a flagrant violation under international law and a major obstacle to the vision of two States living side-by-side in peace and security, within internationally recognized borders.

After than seven decades since adopting the UN Resolution 181, UN reports have continued to affirm ongoing Israeli breaches in the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Fassam noted, alluding to the 1947 UNGA's resolution that called for partition of Palestine into two parts; one for the Palestinians and the other for the Jews. Elaborating further on the current conditions in the occupied territories, Fassam has noted during the session that along with the expansion of settlements, Israeli settlers have continued to attack unarmed Palestinians, with many losing their properties and the perpetrators escaping justice.

Fassam has affirmed Kuwait's adherence to the call for establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital with the June 4, 1967, borders, according to the relevant UNSG resolutions and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative. In his conclusion, Fassam called for ongoing efforts to re-launch peace negotiations according to a timetable for reaching comprehensive and just peace in the Middle East. - KUNA