UAE Voices Support for Palestinian Rights, Middle East Peace

United Nations (ANTARA/Xinhua-OANA) - Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, minister of foreign affairs of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), said here Monday that his country continues to support the rights of the Palestinian people and hopes for peace between Palestine and Israel. The statements came as he addressed the general debate at the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, which entered its fifth day here on Monday. "The UAE reforms its continuous support to the Palestinian Authority (PA) and to its endeavors to restore the legitimate rights of its people in returning to their homeland," Al Nahyan said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas submitted an application for UN membership for Palestine on Sept. 23., a move that has drawn international attention to the Palestinian and Israeli conflict during the 66th assembly session. The application will have to gain approval by the UN Security Council, where U.S., a close ally of Israel has indicated that it will veto the bid. Al Nahyan said that the UAE is "deeply concerned" with conditions on the ground where he said Palestinians are suffering "from deprivation as a result of the continued occupation of their land, the ongoing exploitation of their natural resources, and the frequent aggressions and violations committed against their inalienable rights under the international law." "The UAE condemns the continuous evasion of Israel of its international obligations," said Al Nahyan. "The UAE condemns in particular Israel's settlement policy in the Palestinian territories, especially in Arab East Jerusalem where it has intentionally been confiscating hundreds of homes from their original Arab owners, and has set an agenda aiming at building thousands of illegal settlement units with the aim of changing its Arab demographic, historical, and holy features." Israel has objected to the Palestinian efforts to become a member state of the UN because the government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that by doing so, the PA is bypassing bilateral negotiations. Abbas has said that, on the contrary, he would be open to resuming negotiations. The Palestinian quest for UN statehood, "does not contradict the efforts of resuming peace talks," said Al-Nahyan. He said that his country "has been closely monitoring the developments and the major complications surrounding the Palestinian issue, which unfortunately resulted in halting the efforts and chances of resuming peace talks due to intransigent stance taken by the Israeli government." Direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine have been stalled since October 2010, when Israel failed to renew a moratorium on settlement building. "We reaffirm that just and comprehensive peace will only be achieved with the full withdrawal of Israel from all occupied Palestinian and Arab territories," he said. The UAE foreign minister said that his country is hopeful for a peace settlement with Israel and its neighbors. "The UAE believes that a comprehensive and just peace between Arab countries and Israel would greatly assist in reducing tensions and depriving voices of radicalism and violence from using this ongoing issue as one of the major justifications to promote extremism and violence," he said.