The State of Qatar stressed the importance of ensuring the Palestinian people enjoy their full rights and exercise their sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Al Quds.

The State of Qatar noted the occupying authorities in the occupied Palestinian territories continue to exploit the natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in other occupied Arab territories, and continue to obstruct Palestinians’ access to their resources and property, in addition to their attempts to annex lands, demolish homes and displace people from it, damaging agricultural land and orchards and uprooting fruit trees.

This came in the statement of the State of Qatar at the meeting of the Economic and Financial Committee (Second Committee) of the General Assembly. The statement was read by Third Secretary of the Permanent Mission of the State of Qatar to the United Nations Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz Al-Thani.

He cited a report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) detailing the suffering of the Palestinian people and the Arabs at the Golan heights. The report also highlighted the negative impacted the occupation’s practices have on living conditions of Palestinians and Syrians, and COVID-19’s exacerbation of the negative impact on sustainable development.

He noted that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the principles of international law recognize the principle that no one should be deprived of their private property, and recalled that the General Assembly, in its resolution 76/225, had reaffirmed the principle of the permanent sovereignty of peoples under foreign occupation over their natural resources, and the resolution referred to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and that they must be respected in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.

In the context of what constitutes education as one of the critically elements in enabling sustainable development, especially in areas experiencing conflict. He expressed deep concern regarding what was mentioned in the report on the damage caused to educational facilities in the Gaza Strip and the closure of schools, economic conditions, educational environment, and security-related reasons pose a major obstacle to children’s enrollment in school.

In the context of the importance that the issue of promoting and protecting the right to education takes, and providing equal means for all to access quality and equitable education, he said that the State of Qatar has strengthened its support for UNRWA, including its educational programme, and that the Qatar Fund for Development continues to provide support to the agency, which contributes to enhancing its capacity in order to provide life-saving health and education services for Palestinian refugees.

He added the State of Qatar has continued to provide support for the benefit of the Palestinians, including in the Gaza Strip including the infrastructure in the Strip, which has been destroyed due to Israeli military operations. This came in the framework of the State of Qatar’s commitment to the Palestinian people and improving their livelihood. He added that contributions made by the State of Qatar over the past decade through the Qatar Fund for Development and the Qatar Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza exceeded $1.5 billion, in addition to the contributions made by civil society institutions.

He also stressed the importance of ensuring the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan enjoy their rights and sovereignty over their natural resources, including land, water, and energy resources. He stressed that achieving peace requires all parties to abide by their obligations under international law, noting that the State of Qatar will continue to support international efforts aimed at achieving security, stability and peace in the region based on international legal references.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs