By Shakir Husain
NEW DELHI, Dec 4 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Arab countries have called on the world community to take concrete steps to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine, saying the Jewish state continues to violate international laws.
The ambassadors of Palestine, Saudi Arabia and the Arab League in New Delhi said pressure must be put on Israel to make it agree to a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“Treating Israel as a state above the law has only encouraged it to continue to act as an outlaw state.
“The international community needs to immediately assume its responsibilities to put an end to this Israel aggression against our land, our existence and our future,” Palestinian ambassador Adnan Abu Alhaija said on Wednesday at an event to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
“It is time for concrete measures to provide protection to the Palestinian people and to fulfill their right to self-determination, freedom and independence on the land occupied in 1967, and with East Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.
“Hasn’t the time come yet to put an end to the longest military occupation in contemporary history?” the Palestinian ambassador asked.
Saud Mohammed Al Sati, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to India, slammed Israel’s violence against the Palestinians living in Gaza, saying between June 2018 and May 2019, the Israeli military killed 218 Palestinians, including 48 children, and injured 22,483 people.
The Saudi envoy criticised the US unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Israel’s attempts to change the demography of Arab East Jerusalem, and the recent US announcement of no longer treating Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal.
Alyaa Ghannam, the Arab League’s envoy to India, said the US reversal of policy on illegal Jewish settlements would undermine even “a small prospect for a just peace.”
She said in recent years the US administration has made several moves that are said to be aimed at achieving peace, but they reflected only the “Israeli extreme wing’s vision that imposes unilateral solution” and legitimises the occupation.
