OIC Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Praises Qatar's Role in Supporting Palestinian People

HE Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ambassador Hesham Youssef confirmed on the importance of Qatar's role in supporting Palestinian people by providing them with all forms of humanitarian and development assistance. 
The Ambassador said in an interview with (Al Raya) newspaper that Arab and Muslim world dealt generously for decades with the needs of the Palestinian people, but the needs are still much greater under the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip. 
He pointed out that the State of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Turkey and many countries contribute to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian people. 
He said that 85% of Gaza families depend on humanitarian aids, pointing out that the UN reports confirm that the Gaza Strip may become "uninhabitable" by 2020 and that 95% of Gaza water is unsafe to drink as well as its health, educational and economic system is on its way to collapse. 
On the decline of the Palestinian cause on the international community's agenda, Ambassador Hesham Youssef said that the main reason is the piles of crises and disasters on the Arab and Islamic nation, noting to the situation in Syria with 12 million displaced people and refugees, the situation in Iraq and the war on the (ISIS) as well as the crisis situations in Libya and Yemen, where 80% of the Yemeni people are in need of humanitarian assistance. 
He added that these crises and disasters led to world's preoccupation and as the Palestinian cause is a chronic issue since 1948, the world become unable to focus on the huge number of cases and no longer the Palestinian issue is a priority. 
Regarding the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's efforts, Ambassador Hesham Youssef revealed the organization's preparation for an important international meeting in September under the umbrella of the United Nations to support Palestinian people, pointing out that the consultation is still going on with the Palestinians. 
He affirmed that this conference is part of the initiatives and proposals to be implemented in order to put the Palestinian issue among the priorities of the international community. 
Regarding the challenges facing the implementation of the two-state solution, he said that the Israeli practices, particularly the settlement policy, reduce opportunities for the two-state and make the issue more complicated, adding that that the two-state solution has become more difficult. 
He said that Palestinian people are not able to establish their own state over all these decades, and with the continuation of these situations, one state for two peoples was considered, but this is also not acceptable by Israelis. 
He stressed that the Arab and Islamic stance is clear and is based on Arab peace initiative, and its most important demand is the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital East Jerusalem. 
Ambassador Hesham Youssef warned of famine crisis in a number of Arab and Islamic countries, including Yemen, Somalia, Nigeria, and South Sudan. 
He pointed out that there are consultations with all Member States and the Secretariat directed to submit an appeal to all of them, as well as civil society organizations to provide support to these countries which may witness famine over the coming period.

Source: QNA