Kuwait condemns settlement expansion in occupied Palestinian territories

Geneva, September 29 (KUNA) – Kuwait strongly condemned today, Tuesday, the expansion of settlements, land confiscation, house demolitions in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and forced displacement, stressing that these practices aim to uproot Palestinians from their land, entrench illegal annexation, undermine the establishment of their independent state, and undermine the two-state solution. This was stated in a recorded statement by Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Nasser Al-Hin, before the UN Human Rights Council during its 63rd session in Geneva, as part of the discussion of Agenda Item 7 concerning the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.

Ambassador Al-Hin also condemned settlement expansion in the occupied Syrian Golan and Israeli military incursions into Syrian territory, reiterating Kuwait’s rejection of the imposition of new facts of occupation. He renewed Kuwait’s call for the immediate and complete cessation of settlement activities in the occupied territories, the prevention of commercial and investment activities aimed at entrenching settlements, and the immediate withdrawal and respect for Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Ambassador Al-Hin stated that “occupation does not create rights, and the seizure of land by force does not confer sovereignty,” warning that seeking to profit from the suffering of the Palestinian people makes the perpetrator complicit in those practices.

He reaffirmed Kuwait’s firm stance on the rights of the Palestinian people, foremost among which is their right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital. (End) A.M.Kh./N.S.A.