Occupation, Aggression and Foreign Interference Hinder Achieving Peace in the Middle East: Al-Jaafari

NEW YORK, (ST)- The Israeli occupation of Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan, has been the main cause of conflicts in the Middle East and the reason for not achieving peace and stability in this region, Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar Al-Jaafari stressed.

During a Security Council session on Tuesday on the “Maintenance of international peace and security”, al-Jaafari said that peace and security in the Middle East have been hindered by some countries, clarifying that the challenges facing the achievement of peace and security in the region are the result of occupation, aggression and different forms of foreign intervention in the internal affairs of the Middle East countries, including attempts to overthrow governments by force and terrorism.

 He added that success in dealing with challenges facing the region necessitates respecting and adopting the principles of the international law and the rules of the UN Charter, pointing out that this is not only a regional interest, but an international one.

Al-Jaafari made it clear that “the absence of mechanisms necessary for enforcing the Security Council resolutions relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict has encouraged Israel to continue its occupation and to keep committing crimes against the people in the occupied Arab territories. It has also encouraged the US administration to shirk its obligations under the Security Council resolutions.” 

Al-Jaafari reiterated the need to force the United States and its allies, including Turkey to end their troops’ illegal military presence in Syria and to stop their aggressive practices and crimes against the Syrian people as well as the Syrian infrastructure and civil facilities.

He called for the immediate and unconditional lifting of the unilateral coercive measures which have had disastrous impacts on peoples of the region and led many citizens to leave their homelands. He affirmed that the coercive measures are economic terrorism that completes the terrorism of the foreign-backed gangs aiming to starve the people and deprive them from their basic needs.

Al-Jaafari also stressed the need to end the threat posed by the Israeli arsenal of weapons of mass destruction on the security of the peoples of the region. He emphasized the need for Israel to join the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and put its facilities under the international inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Hamda Mustafa