Dr al-Ansari reiterated, in a media briefing yesterday, Qatar’s clear position on the ongoing crimes of the occupation, whether targeting civilian objects, hospitals, and schools, or targeting the displaced, or starvation and siege imposed on northern Gaza, and at the same time targeting brotherly Lebanon, where more than 2,700 people have so far been martyred, and which is suffering systematic destruction of villages and towns.
He stressed that this is a clear indication of the lack of respect for international human rights law.
He said that Qatar will not fail to play its role in ending this crisis by keeping its mediation and communication channels open, and supporting all regional and international efforts aimed at ending this crisis and stopping the bloodshed despite all the challenges and the ground reality that casts its dark shadows on negotiations.
Regarding the extent of the impact of the assassinations carried out by the Israeli entity and its targeting of UN offices on the efforts of the negotiation process, Dr al-Ansari stressed that every escalation on the ground is accompanied by “complicating” the success of the mediation. “It is not possible to negotiate successfully with a party, while the other party is targeted and assassinated at every opportunity.”
He praised the important role played by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in helping millions not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
Dr al-Ansari warned that stopping support for UNRWA would have disastrous consequences, as well as preventing it from operating in the Palestinian territories, in light of the presence of more than 6mn Palestinians who benefit from the relief services of this agency.
Qatar has pledged $100mn to provide humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. He stressed the need for the international community to act and not remain silent in the face of this disregard for its international institutions and the attack on UN personnel.
Regarding the reports accusing Qatar of mediating the war on Gaza, the MoFA official spokesman explained that these reports have not stopped since the first day. “We in Qatar have thick skin in dealing with such baseless accusations, and the negative treatment of the important role played by the state within the framework of mediation. We are not concerned with any reports that contradict reality and do not communicate directly with the mediators, whether in Qatar or Egypt and the United States.”
Stressing that “the Qatari role has been ongoing since the first day, and the mediator’s role in the end is to bring the viewpoints of the parties to the conflict closer together, he pointed out that Qatari diplomacy works along parallel lines with regard to reducing the escalation in Lebanon and ending the war in the Gaza Strip.
Qatar will spare no effort to reach a permanent solution to this issue, which is a permanent ceasefire and justice for the Palestinian brothers, by bringing the viewpoints closer together and reaching a common language between the negotiators, he added.
Nick Schifrin is PBS NewsHour’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent. He leads NewsHour’s daily foreign coverage, including multiple trips to Ukraine s
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