Manama: Saudi Arabia has called on the international community to take urgent and immediate action to protect Palestinians from Israeli war crimes.
In a speech at the United Nations 69th General Assembly in New York, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal blamed Israel for the failure of the latest round of US-sponsored Palestinian-Israeli talks.
Referring to Syria, Prince Saud described the conflict as the “greatest humanitarian tragedy of the century” and stressed that the longer the inner armed conflict lasted, the greater the “persistence of cruelty and the increase of terrorists and extremists.”
Saudi Arabia fully supports the moderate Syrian opposition, and combats all terrorist groups in Syria, the minister said, Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) reported from the UN on Sunday.
He added that in any political settlement in Syria, “Bashar Al Assad should be out of the picture as he has no role in it.”
Talking about the developments in neighbouring Yemen, Price Saud urged the international community to address the deteriorating security conditions in order to limit the damage and pave the way for the achievement of the political process in line with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative and its implementation measures.
The Saudi official reaffirmed his country’s rejection of terrorism, and called on the international community to take firm measures and to adopt policies that will overcome the phenomenon.
The terrorist groups “have begun as cells and have turned into armies,” he said.
Prince Saud renewed the call for clearing the Middle East from weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), including nuclear arms, and stressed the importance of holding an international conference this year aimed at clearing the region from all WMDs.
Israel has not announced approval to attend the conference, Prince Saud said, so it was to blame for the negative consequences thus failure to clear the region from WMDs.
The veteran foreign minister said that Saudi Arabia pinned hopes on solving the Iranian nuclear issue peacefully and through negotiations between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 Group.
A nuclear agreement will allow Iran to use peaceful nuclear energy under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The P5+1 Group and Iran are negotiating a final agreement that will ease sanctions on the Islamic Republic in exchange for downgrading Tehran’s enrichment capabilities.
