TEHRAN, Oct 1 (KUNA) --Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi urged the international community on Saturday to support the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including recognition of an independent state.
Addressing the fifth International Conference on Palestinian Intifada, currently being held in Tehran, the Speaker said that the step recently taken by the Palestinian Authority (PA) at the UN was a "natural" reaction to Israeli intransigence vis-a-vis peace talks between the PA and the Israeli government, as framed by the Oslo accords.
Alluding to the Palestinian declaration in the UN seeking recognition of an independent state, the Speaker said "we emphasize in this congregation the fact that the Arab and Islamic countries should throw their weight together to support the Palestinian initiative for an independent state." He added that the initiative has turned the corner strategically on the road to resolution for the Palestinian issue.
"We in Kuwait, government and people, consider the Palestinian cause a seminal one for all Arabs and Muslims everywhere and we will spare no effort to ensure a just and permanent resolution for it," he said.
On a note of deep concern, he indicated that holy Islamic features of the city of Jerusalem or al-Quds including the mosque of the Dome of the Rock are being systematically maligned by Israeli authorities, urging the world community to protect these features from further harm.
While Al-Kharafi underscored the international community's responsibility to dissuade Israel from throwing obstacles on the road to peace with Palestinians, he - on the other hand - urged a thorough reconciliation among differing Palestinian factions.
"Reconciliation is no longer an option but an absolute necessity.... We cannot expect international backing for an independent Palestinian state when we are faced by disparate Palestinian views regarding that and a lack of unity among the Palestinians themselves." He averred unequivocally that realizing the Palestinian aspirations for an independent state would not easily materialize without a firm and unshakeable foundation of reconciliation between Ramallah and Gaza.
At the end of his address he expressed his desire that the final communique for this conference would exclusively address the Palestinian issue and no other side issues, with focus on the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, with al-Quds or Jerusalem as its capital, and the right of all Palestinians to return to their usurped homeland.
Kuwait urges int''l community to recognize independent Palestinian state
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