(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Permanent representative of the State of Palestine to the UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour on Wednesday strongly condemned the illegal Israeli actions in East Jerusalem and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories.
He thanked the UN Security Council for its "swift response" to the formal request by Jordan for convening an urgent session on the Israeli violations.
Mansour affirmed that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas instructed the Palestinian mission to the UN to bring the issue to the Security Council in recognition of its duty for the maintenance of international peace and security under the UN Charter.
The Council determined that the policy and practices of Israel in establishing settlements in the Palestinian and other Arab territories, occupied since 1967, have no legal validity and constitute a serious obstruction to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East; "yet, Israel continues to do exactly the opposite," he stressed.
While the Arab countries are seeking peace and making every effort to end the nearly-50 year Israeli occupation based on the two-state principle and the pre-1967 borders, Israel persists in expanding and entrenching its illegitimate control over Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of Palestine through countless unlawful policies and measures, Mansour noted.
The Palestinian diplomat stressed that Israel not only denies the fact that East Jerusalem is occupied city, but also refuses to recognize Palestinian rights, presence and history in the holy city.
The Israel occupation forces and Jewish extremists also continue incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and continue to attack Palestinian worshippers, he went on.
Such illegal policies and measures, along with the deplorable blockade of people in the Gaza Strip who are gravely suffering the disastrous impact of the recent criminal Israeli war and other measures of collective punishment, have put the region on a powder keg, he cautioned.
The international community, foremost the Security Council, must send a clear message and stand firm by its established positions and the international consensus, he added.
Mansour reiterated his county's appeal to the members of the Security Council and the international community to support their initiative and to adopt a resolution reaffirming the fundamental parameters of the two-State solution and delineating a time frame to bring an end to the Israeli occupation and to achieve the independence and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. (end) mao.gb
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