The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemned the ongoing policy of Israeli settlement in the occupied Palestinian territories. This came in the Kingdom's speech delivered by Dr. Abdulwahab Attar, Saudi ambassador and permanent representative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United Nations in Geneva, during the interactive dialogue of the Human Rights Council about Israeli settlements and the policyâ€TMs impact on human rights of the Palestinian people. 'All of us know the suffering of the Palestinian people. Media and international reports emphasize continuation of Israel's violation of Palestinian rights, including those resulting from settlement policy. Israel continues its intransigence and ignores the international resolutions and mechanisms, including its refusal to cooperate with the International investigating teams,' Attar said. He added that the report highlighted that Israel continued to adopt a policy of settlement expansion, calling upon the Israeli forces to halt immediately all settlement activities without preconditions in compliance with the 49th article of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Kingdom's representative to the United Nations also stressed the necessity that Israel is to withdraw all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territories, pointing out that the greatest violation of human rights is the occupation itself. He added that the Palestinian people are still suffering since the establishment of the State of Israel and that the building of Israeli settlements in the occupied Arab territories is against the international legitimacy. In its resolution regarding the Israeli self-imposed separation barrier, the International Court of Justice confirmed the illegality of settlements, Dr. Attar said, calling upon all members of the international community to stand against Israel's settlement policy. The Saudi ambassador supported the UN recommendations holding the member states responsible in their relations with any country that violates the international law and calls not to recognize illegal situation resulting from such violations. He asked the Human Rights Council to take the necessary measures to help stop violations against the Palestinian people due to Israel's settlement policy, including the draft resolutions submitted to the current session of the human rights council under the 7th Article.
