NEW YORK: Kuwait
affirmed refusal to any solution for the Israeli-Arab conflict that does not
involve ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian and Arab lands since 1967.
The remarks were made by Kuwait's permanent ambassador to the United Nations
(UN) Mansour Al-Otaibi during the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC)
session on the situation in the Middle East late Tuesday.

Otaibi noted that
almost 25 years had passed since the Oslo Accord was signed, but no progress
was seen in implementing the agreement, as Israel continues attacking
Palestinians and expanding settlements. Israel is still violating the
international law by building illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian
territories, including East Jerusalem, forced displacement of Palestinian
citizens, arresting Palestinians and destroying buildings, he said.

The situation got
worse in Palestine after the US announced recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's
capital and moving embassies to the city, Otaibi said. He added that such
actions and violations led the Palestinian government to stop exerting efforts
to achieve peace with Israel. Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti diplomat affirmed that it
is the UNSC's responsibility to meet the needs and ambitions of the Palestinian
people and protect civilians against Israeli violence. Moreover, he called on
the international community to support the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to allow the
organization to continue providing education, health and social services to
Palestinian refugees.

Despite the
escalating tension, the Arab states still look forward to reach a peaceful
solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This includes recognizing
Palestine as an independent state, protect the Palestinian right of return,
grant Palestinians the right to decide their own fate and compensating
Palestinian refugees, in accordance with article number 194 of the UN General Assembly.

Criminal act

Separately,
Kuwait has renewed its condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations, whatever its motives, as it is a criminal act that is not
justified and should not be linked to any religion, nationality, civilization
or ethnic group. This came in a speech last night by Kuwait at the Security
Council session on threats to international peace and security caused by
terrorist acts, which was delivered by Ambassador Otaibi.

"The fight
against terrorism calls for mobilizing all international efforts to confront
this criminal scourge by taking measures to ensure respect for human rights,
the rule of law and good governance," he said. He pointed out that despite
the victories achieved by the international community against the terrorist
organizations, especially against the so-called Islamic State or Daesh and the
military defeat suffered by the organization in Syria with the fall of the city
of Baghuz in the province of Deir Ezzor in March, but the Islamic State was not
fully eliminated.

Otaibi added that
the so-called Islamic State operates and grows secretly in Iraq, Syria and
other regions around the world by developing its methods, whether in terrorist
operations, financing such operations or recruiting individuals according to
the available resources. He noted the report of the Secretary-General, which
indicated that the so-called IS is still able to send money to carry out its
acts of sabotage in ways that are difficult to detect by the authorities in
light of the wealth they control, which amounts to about $300 million. The war
against IS in Iraq and Syria has left many humanitarian and security threats
and challenges, for example, the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters,
returnees, migrants and their families, he said.

Radical
ideologies

Prisons were an
incubator that contributed to the nurturing and dissemination of radical
ideologies among inmates suffering from poverty, marginalization and
discrimination, which required further cooperation and communication among
Member States and with the support of relevant United Nations entities in
further strengthening the rehabilitation and social reintegration efforts of
prisoners, including convicts and those convicted of crimes of terrorism.

Otaibi pointed
out that Kuwait has established a rehabilitation center specialized in
providing guidance and reform for all those affected by thought outside the
scope of sound thought, where members of the Center go through a program aimed
at qualifying everyone with extremist ideology. Otaibi pointed out that
preventing and combating the financing of terrorism is also one of the most
prominent challenges facing countries in their efforts to combat the threat of
terrorism. - KUNA