GAZA CITY: A Palestinian man looks at a destroyed building in Gaza City, following a series of Zionist airstrikes on the Gaza Strip early yesterday. - AFP

KUWAIT: The State of Kuwait on Tuesday re-affirmed its rejection of the Zionist entity's settlement schemes in occupied Palestinian territories noting that UN resolutions consider them as illegitimate. The official Kuwaiti stance was expressed by Foreign Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah in the State of Kuwait address to the virtual emergency Arab ministerial meeting on events in Jerusalem.

Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser renewed the State of Kuwait's rejection of all illegal settlement schemes in the occupied Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem, noting that the international law and resolutions of the UN Security Council consider these settlements as illegitimate. He stated, "The State of Kuwait has condemned with the fiercest terms the Zionist occupation authorities' continuous practices, the relocation (of Palestinians), the construction of settlements on the Palestinian territories particularly in Jerusalem and Sheikh Jarrah district."

These schemes aim to alter the facts in the occupied territories and constitute illegal and illegitimate violations, as well as blatant breaches of the relevant international resolutions and references. These resolutions consider these schemes as "invalid and groundless; they neither exist in reality nor lead to commitments."

A Palestinian man holds an injured girl awaiting medical care at Al-Shifa hospital, after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, on Tuesday.

The occupation forces' storming of Al-Aqsa compound on Friday night targeting the unarmed Palestinians is another evidence of the lack of desire of the Zionist entity -- the force based on occupation -- of reaching a comprehensive and just agreement, Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser stated. The occupation Zionist forces alongside the illegitimate settlers, before the eyes of the whole international community, are targeting children, seizing properties, attacking unarmed civilians in flagrant provocation of the whole humanity senses.

These acts are a new addition to the record of a chain of crimes and breaches perpetrated by the Zionist entity -- the force based on occupation -- of the Security Council resolutions 242, 338, 476, 478 and 2334 and other international resolutions that affirm the special sanctity of Jerusalem and invalidate any measure designed to alter its nature, the Kuwaiti foreign minister said.

Explicit breach

Sheikh Dr Ahmad Nasser continued, saying that driving residents of Sheikh Jarrah district out of their houses is a crime and explicit breach of the international law; for Jerusalem remains part of the occupied Palestinian territories subject to the 1949 Fourth Geneva convention, therefore the occupation-based force, the Zionist entity, must respect its commitments, maintain and abstain from expropriating private properties in the occupied territories.

"We are facing a dangerous phase that may jeopardize any just and comprehensive solution to the central cause .. we are facing rapidly developing schemes designed not only to increase the illegal settlements and seize Palestinian lands and properties but also aim to continue Judaization of East Jerusalem namely the old sector to evacuate these districts of the Palestinian residents," he said. The State of Kuwait affirms anew its rejection of all illegal settlement schemes on the occupied Palestinian territories including East Jerusalem.

These settlements "are groundless and invalidated," according to the international law and relevant Security Council resolutions. He called for effective measures to alleviate hardships of "our brothers in Palestine" by calling upon the UN namely the Security Council to shoulder the responsibilities in this regard to ensure that the occupation Zionist authorities abstain from carrying out these hateful schemes and impose a de facto policy.

These Zionist schemes disregard the main references that had been agreed upon to end the conflict and the two states principle that has always been basis for the international community stance for reaching a settlement and rejecting a solution based on a single state. The State of Kuwait affirms its standing on side of the Palestinian people, renews its adherence to the Arab stance that affirms that peace is the strategic option, the minister said.

He further re-affirmed Kuwait's advocacy of the two states' settlement according to the agreed upon references, namely relevant Security Council resolutions, the land for peace principle, the road map, the Arab peace initiative so that the Palestinian people may attain their full legitimate rights and establish their independent state on their territories with East Jerusalem as the capital.

War crimes

The Arab foreign ministers asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Zionist war crimes committed in Palestinian territories, including the eviction of Palestinians from homes in a flashpoint Jerusalem neighborhood at the heart of recent unrest. The Arab ministers denounced the crimes inflicted by Zionist forces on Palestinian worshipers in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, which have escalated dangerously during the holy month of Ramadan, according to a statement issued after the emergency meeting for the Arab foreign ministers on the situation in the Palestinian territories.

These crimes include the use of "disproportionate and indiscriminate" force by Zionist police to prevent peaceful worship across holy sites, in addition to the potential forced evictions of Palestinian families in the occupied East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, added the statement. The ministers called on the international community to "immediately stop the Zionist aggression" against the Palestinian people, emphasizing that ensuring the Palestinians' "protection and right to worship safely" was both a legal and humanitarian obligation. - KUNA