(MENAFN- Arab Times) GENEVA Dec 18 (KUNA): Kuwait's permanent delegate to the UN agencies in Geneva Ambassador Jamal Al-Ghunaim said Wednesday the international community needs to shoulder its legal moral and humanitarian responsibilities for guaranteeing fair and comprehensive peace for the Palestinians. Addressing the Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention Ambassador Al-Ghunaim said Israel as an occupying force is bound by the convention to implement the provisions of the international humanitarian law relating to the protection of the civilian population under occupation. 'The Fourth Geneva Convention and the other relevant international legal instruments stipulate clearly that an occupying force does not acquire sovereignty over the occupied territories so Israel is required to show the highest degree of respect to these laws' he stressed.
Ambassador Al-Ghunaim noted that the signatories of the Fourth Geneva Convention know very well that occupation is transient and can neither change the pre-occupation status quo nor impose a new fait accompli. 'Israel which joined the convention in 1951 is forced to ensure humanitarian treatment to the civilian population meet their basic needs protect their private property and run their public utilities including the educational and healthcare facilities in a proper way' he pointed out. 'Where things stood in terms of these obligations when Israel launched the military offensive on Gaza Strip last summer' he wondered. 'Is it enough for the international community to convene this conference just to review the outcome of the recent Israeli aggression which left 2142 Palestinian deaths including 510 children and 286 women more than 11000 injured a third of them are children and large-scale destruction' Ambassador Al-Ghunaim wondered. 'The brutal onslaught on Gaza which lasted between July 8 and August 26 2014 was just a ring in the chain of criminal acts and excessive use of force by the Israeli occupation authorities against the civilian population in the occupied Palestine. 'The State of Kuwait denounces in the strongest terms the serious and unjustifiable violations of the international laws by the Israeli forces including the premeditated mass murder the forcible eviction of civilians from their homes and illegal acquisition of the Palestinian property in the occupied territories. 'Kuwait also condemns the recent incursions into the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque by Jewish extremists and the illegal Jewish settlement expansions in the occupied territories; these acts can only foment violence and undermine the Middle East peace process' he went on. Kuwait as the current presidency of the Arab Summit and the ministerial committee on the Arab peace initiative worked with the State of Palestine and the Arab League as well as Switzerland the depositary of the Geneva Conventions for convening this conference in a bid to ensure international protection for the Palestinian people. Aware of its humanitarian role Kuwait pledged USD 200 million to the rebuilding of Gaza Strip as per the plan worked out by the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR) Ambassador Al-Ghunaim added. He welcomed the recent motions by several European parliaments to recognize the State of Palestine and urged the rest of the European parliaments to follow suit. On behalf of Kuwait he appreciated the efforts made by Switzerland to lobbying for holding the current conference since the beginning of the Israel onslaught on Gaza in keeping with the resolution of the UN General Assembly adopted on Nov 5 2009.
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