Arab council condemns Israeli ruining of Palestinian environment

The Arab Environment Council concluded its 25th meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo with a package of resolutions and recommendations to address environmental challenges facing the Arab region. In its final communique, the council condemned the illegal Israeli practices that wreck havoc at environment in the occupied Palestinian territories. It asked Arab countries to provide Palestinian Authority with the required support to boost the potential of local environment protection agencies to counter the Israeli activities. The council assigned the Arab Atomic Energy Agency to study the grave impacts of the radioactive pollution of the Israeli Dimona nuclear reactor on the neighboring Arab territories. Furthermore, the conferees urged regional and international environment agencies to help Sudanese government deal with the worsening environmental situation in the western province of Darfur and other northern provinces. They agreed on holding a meeting, for the entities in charge of the Arab climate change plan of action, to mull finance and implementation of the plan's projects during the first half of 2014. The council called on Arab countries to quickly ratify the charter of the Arab union for natural reservations. It demanded the Arab Atomic Energy Agency to complete the study on the risks of the radiation of Iran's nuclear reactor. It urged the Arab countries to continue the implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 Conference) and the Arab Development, Economic and Social summit. The council also lauded the fruitful cooperation between the Arab League and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)'s Committee particularly with regard to the environmental issues. Meanwhile, the council approved Naif Arab University for Security Sciences bid to be an observer member and invited it to contribute to the council's projects. The conferees also elected new members of the Executive Office of the Arab Environment Ministers Council for a two-year term starting from 2014. As per the new line-up, Saudi Arabia will chair the office whose membership also will comprise Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Oman, Palestine and Republic of Comoros. The Kuwaiti delegation to the meeting was headed by Director General of the Environment Public Authority Salah Al-Mudhi.