CAIRO, 22nd February, 2025 (WAM) - Saqr Ghabash, Speaker of the Federal National Council (FNC), affirmed that the Palestinian Cause has been a crucial guiding principle in the foreign policy of the UAE since its founding in 1971.

Saqr Ghabash noted that the UAE has politically and diplomatically confronted every attempt to deprive the Palestinians of their rights. ''This stance was clearly demonstrated during the events in Gaza, where UAE aid to our people and our brothers there exceeded 40% of the total international humanitarian assistance received. This is a duty that the UAE has embraced with certainty and conviction in its role towards the people in Palestine, to alleviate their suffering and support their steadfastness on their land.''

Ghabash also pointed out that, based on the current situation and the rapid and serious developments affecting the Palestinian issue, the UAE has renewed its initial and firm position in defending the Palestinian people's right to live in security and safety, and to see peace and prosperity in their independent state. This reaffirmation follows President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan's statement on 19 February this year, in which he declared that the UAE rejects the forcible displacement of our people in Gaza and affirmed that the reconstruction of Gaza must be linked to a two-state solution, so that the region and the world may enjoy lasting peace.

The FNC Speaker made theese remarks in his speech today before the 7th Arab Parliament Conference and speakers of Arab councils and parliaments at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, with extensive Arab participation and in the presence of Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States; Brahim Boughali, President of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPA); and Mohammed Ahmed Al Yamahi, President of the Arab Parliament..

Saqr Ghabash said, "We gather here today, and we had hoped that our meeting would be centred on peaceful coexistence; however, the reality, in all its details, places us at a critical and pivotal moment in the history of our central cause - the Palestinian cause - which continues to suffer from the Israeli occupation along with all its attendant destruction and ongoing attempts at displacement. This is a moment in which we stand, with deep sorrow and pain, before the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza - a suffering that has exacted a heavy toll in the lives of its children and the future of its generations. At this moment, the human losses and material destruction have exceeded all bounds, with tens of thousands of innocent civilians, including thousands of children and women, being martyred or injured, and the entire infrastructure completely destroyed."

He continued, "We have witnessed ideas that go beyond the bounds of justice and logic, as seen in the proposals that seek to resolve the Palestinian issue under the guise of reconstruction, resettlement, and converting the Gaza Strip into a real estate investment project. In reality, this is nothing but a rejected attempt to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian inhabitants - the rightful owners of the land - and to impose forced solutions that ignore the historical rights of the Palestinian people as established by international legal resolutions. It is also an attempt to strip the Palestinian cause of its true essence, which lies in restoring the full rights of the Palestinian people - rights that always confirm, first and foremost, the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on the borders of 4 June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with all international legal resolutions."

He also pointed out that in May 2024 the UAE, in its capacity as the head of the Arab Group at the United Nations, submitted a draft resolution affirming the eligibility of the State of Palestine to obtain full membership in the United Nations. This resolution received the support of 143 states in the UN General Assembly, marking a historic step towards a two-state solution and enhancing Palestine's standing in the international community.

In this regard, he clarified that the UAE reaffirms the Hashemite custodianship of the Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem and fully supports the positions of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in rejecting any attempt to displace the residents of Gaza or the West Bank from their lands. In the same context, he stressed the rejection and condemnation of statements calling for Saudi Arabia to allocate land for the people of Gaza, while simultaneously praising the Kingdom's steadfast stance on the Palestinian cause and the two-state solution.