KUWAIT: Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah conveyed the greetings of His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and the Kuwaiti government and people to the Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq and the Omani people.
This came during Sultan Haitham’s reception of the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council member states and GCC Secretary General Jasem Al-Budaiwi following their emergency meeting in Muscat to discuss the escalation in the Palestinian territories. The Kuwaiti FM also wished the Sultan of Oman everlasting wellbeing and further progress and welfare for Oman.
For his part, Sultan Haitham sent sincere greetings to the Kuwaiti leadership, government, and people and wished them further progress and prosperity. The GCC foreign ministers listened to Sultan Haitham’s vision for the current situation in the Palestinian territories and his directives for cementing joint GCC action to maintain security, stability, and prosperity.
Escalation in Palestine
Meanwhile, the extraordinary 43rd meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers on Tuesday thoroughly deliberated the escalation in the Gaza Strip and its huge ramifications for the region. In a press statement, GCC Secretary Jasem Al-Budaiwi said that the foreign ministers reviewed the developments in the Palestinian territories in light of the occupation’s escalating violence and indiscriminate and illegal bombing of residential neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip, which left thousands of civilians dead or injured.
They discussed Zionist plans to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the enormous challenges facing the region due to such acts, Al-Budaiwi said. Addressing the conferees, the GCC chief emphasized the centrality of the Palestinian cause for the GCC countries. He reiterated the GCC’s support for Palestinian people’s rights and called for the implementation of the relevant UN resolutions. He deplored the repeated Zionist encroachments on Palestinians and their rights. Al-Budaiwi held Zionist occupation authorities responsible for the deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.
He regretted the silence of the international community towards such Zionist violations, stressing that such silence must end. The GCC chief renewed his call to the international community to take swift action to protect the Palestinian people and immediately stop all forms of military escalation against defenseless civilians in the Gaza Strip. He called for lifting the siege on the densely populated Strip and providing its people with humanitarian, relief, and medical needs. Al-Budaiwi underlined the need to allow the evacuation of the injured people as per international law and international humanitarian law.
He voiced categorical rejection of Zionist plans to evict the Gaza Strip and forcibly displace its people, dismissing them as a breach of basic human rights and international norms. He reaffirmed the GCC’s support for the Palestinian people and its efforts to find a lasting, comprehensive, and peaceful solution to the conflict to help the Palestinian people restore their legitimate rights.
He called for resolving the Palestinian cause through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Kuwait was represented in the meeting by a delegation headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. — KUNA