DOHA: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani will be part of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani's delegation to the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, said Official Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), Dr Majed bin Mohammad Al Ansari.
During the UNGA meetings from September 22 to 28, the prime minister will hold several bilateral meetings that will be attended by Qatari officials, Al Ansari said in the MoFA's weekly press briefing, on Tuesday.
He added that Qatar would press on its efforts and contacts in various ways, to hammer out a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and that all mediators are making huge efforts to end the war in Gaza.
Part of these efforts were Monday's phone call that the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs received from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and a meeting he held in Doha with Speaker of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, HE Lindsay Hoyle. The phone conversation and the meeting discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Meanwhile, Al Ansari added that Minister of State for Foreign Affairs HE Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi chaired on Tuesday Qatar's delegation to the meeting of the Ministerial Committee assigned by the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit on Developments in the Gaza Strip in Jordan's capital Amman. The meeting discussed the committee's outcomes.
Secretary-General of the MoFA HE Dr Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi, who is also Qatar's Governor to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), addressed the 68th IAEA General Conference on Monday, saying that genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is a stark example of the deterioration of international relations and the absence of the rule of law.
Al Hammadi stressed the urgent need to declare a permanent and sustainable ceasefire and enable the Palestinian people to exercise their right to self-determination and establish their stable state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
On Friday, Minister of State at the MoFA, HE Dr Mohammed bin Abdulaziz bin Saleh Al Khulaifi, chaired Qatar's delegation to the meetings of the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee tasked with international action to stop the war in Gaza in Madrid.
Al Ansari said that the meeting issued a statement stressing that the two-state solution is the only way to achieve lasting peace and security and that it is important for the Palestinian Authority to fully regain control over the Rafah crossing and the rest of the borders, and for the occupying Israeli forces to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, including the Philadelphi Corridor. It also stressed that the State of Palestine must be internationally recognized and gain a permanent UN membership.
Meanwhile, Al Ansari highlighted Al Muraikhi's chairmanship of Qatar's delegation to the 162nd Arab League Council at the level of foreign ministers on Sept 10, noting that hisspeech addressed the tragic circumstances the Palestinian people are still facing due to Israeli occupation forces' unrelenting brutal killing, destruction and deliberate war of extermination.
Al Muraikhi warned against a possible expansion of the circle of conflict in the region between the occupation authorities and neighbouring countries and stressed that the State of Qatar would continue coordination with the Arab Republic of Egypt and international partners to reach a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.
Al Ansari highlighted Qatar's official statements including on September 13 which condemned in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation Prime Minister's storming of the Palestinian Jordan Valley region, and on September 12 which slammed the occupation's bombing of a UNRWA school in Gaza.
These statements on the ongoing events in Gaza will go on, even though they sound like a broken record of international diplomacy, as it is impossible to remain silent about the repeated massacres of the occupation, Al Ansari said, stressing the importance of holding the Israeli occupation accountable for these ongoing crimes.
Al Ansari highlighted several meetings Minister of State for International Cooperation HE Lolwah bint Rashid Al Khater had held in Doha, on the sidelines of the 5th Observance of the International Day to Protect Education from Attack.
She held meetings with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the State of Palestine HE Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, Prime Minister of the Republic of Yemen HE Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Liberia HE Sara Beysolow Nyanti, and State Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Federal Republic of Somalia HE Ali Mohamed Omar, Executive Director of the World Food Program, Cindy McCain, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Kate Forbes, and Spokesperson of the Caretaker Government of Afghanistan Abdul Qahar Balkhi.
The meetings discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip.
