“The Security Council failed to reach an effective position. In view of this, I think that it is better for the Arab countries themselves to interfere out of their national, humanitarian, political and military duties and do what is necessary to stop the bloodshed in Syria,” HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa said in a UN General Assembly speech.
“We had a similar precedent when Arab forces intervened in Lebanon in the mid-‘70s … to stop internal fighting there in a step that proved to be effective and useful,” he added.
The Emir further urged all countries that believe in the cause of the Syrian people to provide “all sorts of support” to Syrians until they gain legitimate rights.
The Emir said the Arab world was going through very “difficult and risky” time with alarming dangers, and “full of hope” at the same time, stressing that the situation in Syria had reached an “unacceptable phase” as hundreds of innocent Syrians were killed every day by the Syrian regime that “does not hesitate to use all sorts of weapons against its people”.
Speaking on the Palestinian issue, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa blamed Israel for the stoppage of peace process as Israel insists on “continuing the policy of settlement in the Palestinian Territories and Jerusalem and refusing to cede them” .
The Emir highlighted that the Middle East’s core issue remained “the Palestinian question and the continued Israeli occupation of the Arab territories in the West Bank, the Golan and Shebaa Farms in Southern Lebanon in addition to the stifling blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and the continued arrest and imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians”.
