Qatari emir slams UN inaction on Israel-Palestine issue

Israel continues to occupy Arab lands “against the back drop of the world’s silence”, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Al-Thani told the UN on Tuesday.

“Some countries continue to pursue an approach of action beyond the framework of international legitimacy against the back drop of an international negligence of implementing United Nations Security Council resolutions,” he said, referring to Israel.

Al-Thani, who is in New York as world leaders gather for the 71st session of the General Assembly, said seven decades of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands is still waiting for a just solution, noting “the selectivity of the Security Council in addressing the problems.”

Despite several Security Council resolutions on Israeli settlements, Tel Aviv continues to authorise building settlements on Palestinian territories.

Israel seeks to impose a “fait acompli” through settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, according to Al-Thani.

“It is no longer possible to ignore the weakness of the United Nations’ legal and institutional system,” he said. “Its inability in many cases to apply standards of justice and fairness to the mechanism of its functioning.”

Al-Thani also accused Israel of “discrimination and racial segregation” against Palestinians.

“Arab people cannot accept any kind of normalisation of relations with Israel as Israel proceeds with the occupation practices and before achieving a just solution to the Palestinian cause,” he warned.