President renews UAE's commitment to supporting Palestinian people

The United Arab Emirates has renewed its commitment to supporting the Palestinian people in their just struggle to end the Israeli occupation of their territories, to regain their freedom and dignity and to exercise their rights for self determination, including the right to establish their independent state with Jerusalem as capital.

This came in a letter sent by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Fode Seck, Head of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, at a meeting held by the committee today to mark the Observance of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

In his letter, Sheikh Khalifa referred to the Palestinian question as the saddest episode in modern history.

"It is an episode of frustration and desperation that feeds the current patterns of violence, extremism and terrorism and poses a threat to regional and international security and stability," he said.

Sheikh Khalifa warned that Israel's policies of expansion of illegal settlement, clearly expose its intentions to perpetuate occupation of the Palestinian and Arab lands that were taken by force, and lead to blocking all regional and international efforts to achieve peace.

He also affirmed UAE's support to the efforts aimed at setting a timeframe for ending the Israeli occupation, based on the international legitimacy resolution and on the principles of land-for-peace and the Arab Peace Initiative.

Sheikh Khalifa called for efforts to pressure Israel into showing a true political will to end the current stalemate and to resume the political process to settle all pending issues and to recognise the independent, sovereign and UN-recognised Palestinian state, within recognised secure borders, in line with the two state resolution and the agreements of Madrid and Oslo.

Sheikh Khalifa also called on the UN, the Security Council and the Quartet to actively support the international initiatives for peace, for providing international protection to the Palestinian people and their properties and for lifting the blockade on Gaza.

"This requires sending a clear message to Israel as the occupying force, reminding it that the flagrant violations of the Palestinian human rights, of their territories and sacred places, cannot be tolerated under the UN Charter and the international laws, including the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949."

Sheikh Khalifa concluded his letter by saying: "We, in the UAE, commit to continue our solidarity and our political and economic support to the Palestinian people, based on our belief in their just cause. We sincerely hope that the donor countries will fully honour their financial commitments to ease the suffering of the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza Strip, which has been under blockade since 2006, to enable its reconstruction under a unified national authority."