Speaking on behalf of the Arab Group during a meeting in Geneva today of the United Nations commission on the right of peoples to self-determination and its application to peoples under colonial or alien occupation, notably Palestine and the occupied Arab territories, the Kingdom’s representative at the UN’s European headquarters Dr. Abdulwahab Abdulsalam Attar expressed the hope that the Palestinian people would gain their rights through the peace process in the Middle East, adding that the question of Palestine is still a major source of concern to the UN Commission on Human Rights, and that it had been hoped that the Commission’s resolutions would mitigate the horrific suffering to which the Palestinian people have been subjected. Israel’s occupation, he said, had deprived the people of Palestine of the most basic internationally-recognized right to establish their independent State with Al-Quds [East Jerusalem] as their capital.

Dr. Attar declared that the wall that Israel is currently building is a wall of racial segregation, and that it further complicates the issue. He condemned Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories as a violation of the rights of the Palestinian people which disregards international norms, including the Fourth Geneva Convention. He citied the peace initiative launched by Deputy Prime Minister and Commander of the National Guard Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, and adopted by the Arab Summit in Beirut in 2002, as demonstrating the existence of a sincere will to resolve the conflict, and deplored the fact that Israel has so far rejected all peaceful initiatives to overcome the problem.

Return