Maldives Participates in UN Security Council Debate on Middle East and Palestine
Maldives has called on all parties to make every effort to respect the rights of the Middle Eastern people, and to end the ongoing violence in the Middle East.
Speaking on the ongoing situation in the Middle East and Palestine at the UN Security Council, Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed, Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the United Nations said that the Maldives remained extremely concerned about the ongoing violence in the Middle East and that empowering people to bring make substantial reforms would lead to peace and prosperity in the region, which has long suffered from war and instability.
Ambassador Ghafoor highlighted the Maldives’ own experience as a Muslim country, embracing human rights and democracy and called on international organisations such as the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to assist countries in putting in place the necessary institutional infrastructure in order to complete the transition to a democratic system of governance.
Speaking on the situation in Palestine, Ambassador Ghafoor said that the Maldives was hugely disappointed at the continued suffering of the Palestinian people and reiterated the Maldives’ position that a sovereign state of Palestine must be created to bring lasting peace.
Ambassador Ghafoor also called on Israel to freeze the expansion of settlements in occupied territories to create a political atmosphere that would be conducive for the resumption of negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
The open-debate in the Security Council comes at an opportune time, where talks between the two sides have failed to take place to break the stalemate. The Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas has been increasingly lobbying for the sovereign recognition of the Palestinian state by the international community.