Saudi Arabia reaffirms solidarity with Palestinians

Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its “firm support and full solidarity” with the Palestinian people at the UN on Thursday, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
The address at the UN was delivered by Manal Hassan Radwan, political coordinator of Saudi Arabia’s permanent delegation to the UN.
She called for “the establishment of an independent and sovereign state (on) all of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.”
Radwan said: “We strongly condemn all... Israeli campaigns on occupied Palestinian territory, and hold Israel alone as the occupying power responsible for its shameful acts of killing innocent Palestinians.”
She highlighted the “destruction of Palestinian land, the destruction of thousands of houses, buildings and infrastructure, all the human and material damage inflicted on the Palestinian people for more than 70 years.”
She said the half-century of occupation and decade of the Gaza blockade will not be forgotten for generations.
“Israel’s aggressive behavior continues to undermine all calls and demands of the international community to stop serious violations, and its commitment to international resolutions and respect for the law,” Radwan added.
“Saudi Arabia calls for the Palestinian cause and its legal, political and humanitarian rights... to be at the forefront of the international community’s concerns, with a view to the immediate implementation of all UN resolutions in this regard.”
She called for immediate international protection for the Palestinians in the occupied territories.
“Saudi Arabia affirms the Islamic, Arab and Palestinian identity of occupied Jerusalem, and East Jerusalem is an integral part of the Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967,” Radwan said.
“Its annexation by Israel... is illegal , unrecognized and condemned by the international community.
“We condemn in the strongest terms the ongoing violations against Al-Aqsa Mosque and worshippers by Israeli occupation forces and settlers.
“We call for an end to these repeated violations and (for) Israel... to respect the rights of freedom of worship and preserve the inviolability of worshippers and holy sites.”
Radwan said: “The Palestinian people have suffered a long period of unjust occupation and... racist policies of oppression, and we commend them for their steadfastness and struggle to defend their land and their sons and sanctities.”
The continuation of Israel’s “illegal settlement practices, the seizure of Palestinian land and expulsion of its indigenous population... is strong proof of its policy of ethnic cleansing,” she added.
“This undermines the two-state solution, and affirms that it (Israel) is not concerned with peaceful solutions, but rather that it seeks to... continue the occupation and deprive the Palestinian people of their rights,” she said.
Meanwhile, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir denied the existence of any ties between the Kingdom and Israel when he attended a meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo.
The Arab Peace Initiative (API) remains the path to normalizing relations between Israel and the 22 Arab states, Al-Jubeir added.
Radwan also said: “My country holds Israel... fully responsible for the consequences of the heinous crimes of extremist settlers against the Palestinian people, and calls for the inclusion of settler leaders and extremist settlement groups on the terrorism list.”
She said the API — presented by Saudi Arabia, and adopted by the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) — represented a historic milestone in the quest for a just and comprehensive peace for the Palestinians and all the peoples of the region.