Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani’s speech at 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly this week was historic, touching all the key issues and challenges facing the region in particular and the world in general. The speech embodied Qatar’s foreign policy principles of a just and rules-based global governance and order.
The UN General Assembly session comes at a time when the Middle East region faces increased risks of expansion of the conflict with Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip now nearing a year. The Israeli military has also killed hundreds of people in strikes in parts of Lebanon in recent days, further escalating the tensions. Qatar has been warning since day one of the conflict of the danger of its expansion in the region.
The Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 41,495 people since October 7, 2023. The toll includes 28 deaths in the previous 24 hours, the health ministry in Gaza said yesterday. Over 96,000 people have been wounded in the Gaza war so far. And in Lebanon, at least 615 people have been killed in Israeli strikes over the past three days, while tens of thousands have been displaced.
The Amir said at UNGA: “Israel is currently waging a war on Lebanon and no one knows to what extent this war could escalate.
This is what we have repeatedly warned against if the brutal war on Gaza doesn’t end. This systematic destructive war must stop, and this is the choice before Israel as its leaders know very well. They know that it will neither bring security and peace to northern Israel nor to Lebanon, and that the key to security rests on a just peace.”
The Amir also highlighted other pressing regional and global issues including conflicts in Yemen, Syria, Sudan, and Libya. “Arab countries cannot achieve security and stability without the existence of firmly established states capable of legislating and enforcing the law, developing and implementing national policies.
No state can firmly be established and stable in the presence of armed factions that are not under its control,” the Amir said.
On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Amir reiterated call on all parties to implement the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations and the rules of international law, and seek to find a peaceful solution, as the only possible solution.
The Amir stressed that for Qatar, mediation and humanitarian work are both a strategic political choice at the regional and international levels, and a humanitarian duty before being a political one.
