Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani address to the 79th UN General Assembly, 24 Sep 2024 (English translation of Arabic original)

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Mr. President,

The blatant aggression that befalls the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip today is the most barbaric and heinous and extensive in breaching human values, international charters and norms.

This is not a war within the international relations' well-known and common concept of war, but rather a crime of genocide by means of using the most sophisticated weapons against a people besieged in a detention camp where there is no escape from the barrage of aerial bombing.

We oppose violence and the targeting of innocent civilians by any party, but **after a year of the war, and with all that has been and is still being perpetrated in it, it is no longer tenable to talk about Israel's right to defend itself in this context without being complicit in justifying the crime.**

Every year I stand on this podium and begin my speech by talking about the Palestinian cause, the absence of justice, the perils of believing that it can be neglected, and the illusions of making peace without a just solution.

The Palestinian cause will remain lingering in place, except in two cases, either the end of the occupation, or the disappearance of the Palestinian people. However, it seems that there are those in Israel who entertain wishful thinking to eliminate this people. **This occupation has taken the form of an apartheid system in the twenty-first century.**

The State of Qatar has opted for undertaking mediation efforts in an endeavor to stop the aggression on Gaza and secure the release of prisoners and detainees. It is a mediation amidst fierce war and complex circumstances, during which one party would not hesitate to assassinate counterpart political leaders with whom it negotiates, such as **the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who many people feign forgetfulness that he was not only the political leader of Hamas but also the first elected Palestinian prime minister.**

For us 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.

Our mediation efforts, in partnership with the Arab Republic of Egypt and the United States of America, culminated in a humanitarian agreement last November. It resulted in a brief ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners and 109 of the detainees in Gaza.

We will continue to exert efforts with our partners until reaching a permanent ceasefire, securing the release of prisoners and detainees, taking the path of a just solution in accordance with the resolutions of the international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative, and enabling the Palestinian people to obtain all their legitimate rights, foremost of which is their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital on the 1967 borders.

Apart from committing a major crime by rigging wireless communication devices and exploding them simultaneously across thousands of people with total disregard for their identity or location, Israel is currently waging a war on Lebanon and no one knows to what extent this war could escalate.

In brotherly Yemen, we look forward to preserving the 2022 truce and proceeding therefrom towards a comprehensive ceasefire, resolving the crisis, ensuring Yemen's unity and achieving the aspirations of its brotherly people.

As regards the crisis in Syria, the position of the State of Qatar has been clear, and that Qatar is keen on the interests of brotherly Syrian people hoping that the parties and countries involved in the crisis will be convinced of the necessity for dialogue and understanding to end this crisis in accordance with the Geneva Declaration 1 and Security Council Resolution 2254.

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.** These are self-evident and unquestionable matters.