By B Izzak

KUWAIT: The National Assembly yesterday strongly condemned US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan, calling on the government to continue to reject it while urging all Arab and Islamic nations to also unanimously reject the so-called "Deal of the Century" because it undermines the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Lawmakers called for exerting all efforts to oppose and halt the process of normalizing Arab ties with Israel, saying all Israeli practices are in violation of international law. A communique issued by the Assembly stressed the plan stipulates major concessions from the rights of Palestinians. The statement called for unified Arab and Islamic popular and official stands to support the Palestinian people and their just cause.

National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem called for official Arab, Islamic and international rejection of this "failed plan" and to show full support for the Palestinian people's steadfastness on their lands. He urged popular and national Arab and Islamic efforts to highlight the systematic crimes committed by the occupying authorities against the Palestinian people.

Ghanem commended HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah's overwhelming support of the Palestinian cause, as well as all governments and parliaments that opposed the US peace plan. He urged the international community to serve justice for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. Ghanem assured the Kuwaiti people that HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah is enjoying good health, denying rumors circulated by certain quarters.

Ghanem also said he will submit a proposal to form a commission to investigate people suspected of obtaining Kuwaiti citizenship through illegal means, insisting their number is not small. The government also promised to accelerate the process of building homes for Kuwaitis, while several MPs doubted that the government is serious, saying its housing policies are controlled by highly influential people.

In his speech about stateless people or bedoons and Kuwaiti citizenship, Ghanem said he will submit today a proposal calling for setting up a central agency for probing suspected forgery cases in Kuwaiti citizenship. He cited the example of a woman who obtained citizenship illegally and even obtained two identities and got employment as a citizen, adding that there was an increase of 400,000 people in housing applications and this must be investigated. He said that he does not say that all of the 400,000 have got citizenship through illegal means, but thousands have fake nationalities and this must be investigated.

On bedoons, Ghanem said they were 51,466 in 1965, but dropped to just over 39,000 five years later. Their number jumped to 124,000 in 1975 and to as many as 220,000 in 1990 just before the Iraqi invasion. After the liberation in early 1991, the number of bedoons almost halved to 117,000, as many returned to their original nationalities.

The speaker said there are bedoons who sacrificed their lives defending Kuwait, but there are others who betrayed the country, and as such "we should not treat them equally". He said 3,944 bedoons who worked in the military before the invasion collaborated with the Iraqi occupation, and thus betrayed the country, adding they will not be granted citizenship. Ghanem told HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah that some people are plotting to topple him, adding that they are preparing to grill the premier but are waiting for the right timing.

Minister of Public Works and Housing Rana Al-Fares told the Assembly that over the past six years, as many as 66,000 housing units and plots have been distributed, adding that the government has signed several projects worth hundreds of millions of dinars to accelerate the construction of homes.

MP Shuaib Al-Muwaizri said resolving the housing problem is very simple because money and land are available, but said that there are some who deliberately refuse to resolve the problem because they want to keep citizens engaged forever. He said resolving the housing problem will save KD 1.2 billion paid in housing allowances over the next 10 years.