New York: President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has reaffirmed the UAE’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and its constant support for their legitimate rights.
He has also called on the international community to ratchet up pressure on Israel to end its aggression against the Palestinians and for them to be provided with political, economic and development assistance so as to gain their freedom and independence.
His comments, published by the official agency WAM, were part of the annual message of solidarity President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent on Monday to the Chairman of the United Nations Committee on Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on the occasion of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which falls on 29 November.
In his message, Shaikh Khalifa expressed the UAE's strong condemnation of the dangerous, large-scale escalation committed by Israel as the ''Occupying Force'' in the Palestinian Territories, particularly in East Jerusalem, including repeated desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque and its facilities, daily aggression against Palestinian worshippers, preventing them from practicing their religious rituals, frequent, massive and illegitimate settlement campaigns and its continuous inhumane siege of the Gaza Strip.
The UAE President also demanded that the UN take adequate, necessary measures to provide protection for the Palestinian people, exercise pressure on Israel to halt its frequent violations and dangerous aggression against the Palestinian people and ensure the international legal accountability of Israel in order to ensure that the Palestinian people enjoy their inalienable rights on their homeland.
''The just, comprehensive and lasting settlement of the Palestinian Cause will only be achieved through withdrawal of Israel from all Palestinian lands it occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, and implementation of the two-state solution in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions, principles of the peace road map and the Arab Peace Initiative,'' President Shaikh Khalifa emphasised.
