Dead Sea, Jordan: The Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani delivered a speech at the 28th Ordinary Session of the Summit-level Meeting of the Council of the Arab League which was held today at the King Hussein bin Talal Convention Centre in the Dead Sea area in Jordan.
In the speech, HH the Emir said: "At the outset, I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to His Majesty, brother, King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and to the people and Government of the brotherly Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for their warm welcome, cordial hospitality and efforts made to make this summit a success.
"I would also like to extend my profound thanks and appreciation to His Excellency, brother, President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, for his sincere and appreciated efforts during his presidency of the previous Summit."
His Highness said the gravity of the stage that our pan-Arab homeland and the whole region are going through, and the obstacles on way of realizing the aspirations of our peoples in development, security and stability require a lot from us in terms of realism, frankness, awareness, and conformity of words and deeds to spare our Arab ummah the dangers. A genuine Arab solidarity is an auxiliary factor in achieving these aspirations, while its absence has negative effects.
The HH Emir added the differences in our visions and attitudes towards some political issues facing our ummah have led to negative effects on other non-political areas of cooperation. This indicates that the problem does not always lie in the disagreement itself, but in how to tackle it, and in the spillover of a political dispute to everything else.
"In fact, we can unify visions and confront various challenges and surpass the current situations, since there are no intractable differences or disagreements between brothers, and even if some happened, despite all efforts, they should not impact the areas of cooperation that are of interest to our citizens and our societies."
The HH Emir said that the Palestinian cause remains at the forefront of our priorities in spite of the fact that the peace process reached a deadlock due to the intransigent positions of the Israeli government, its breaches of its commitments and pledges and its attempts to impose a fait accompli, with intensifying building settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Judaization of Jerusalem, which pose a threat to the regional and global stability and security.
"We are required to jointly and seriously act to put pressure on the international community and the Security Council to reject the inception of an apartheid system in the 21st century, and to deal firmly with Israel to force it to stop building settlements, implement international legitimacy resolutions, end the continuous violations against the Palestinian people and lift the unjust siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, which prevents its inhabitants from maintaining a normal life, and to get it to engage in time-bound serious negotiations based on clear-cut principles rather than negotiations for the sake of negotiations intended for baffling and time-wasting or exploiting that for building settlements."
His Highness stressed that the firm stance of the State of Qatar on the Palestinian issue reflects the committed Arab stance that the peace process be based on a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement in accordance with international legitimacy and the Arab peace initiative based on the principle of a two-State solution to ensure the establishment of a Palestinian State on the borders of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of return of the Palestinian refugees and ending the Israeli occupation of all Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan.
HH the Emir said unifying of the Palestinian ranks is an essential element in ending the occupation. There is no meaning and no point in a dispute over an authority that is devoid of sovereignty, in light of the occupation of the Palestinian territories, as no Palestinian State shall be founded without Gaza, and no State in Gaza shall be established either.
"Therefore, the State of Qatar is pursuing its efforts to end the state of division and restore unity to the national Palestinian action, in accordance with the Doha and Cairo accords. We call on all Palestinian leaders to be endowed with wisdom and give priority to the supreme national interest by ending divisions, setting up a government of national unity to carry out the constitutional and executive tasks for restoring national unity to enable the Palestinian people achieve their legitimate aspirations for freedom and independence and to build their independent State with East Jerusalem as its capital."
