Samar Yahya Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Palestinian Consul General Emad Sha'at has been posted in Jeddah for over four years, serving the Palestinian community in the western and southern regions of the Kingdom. During these years, he has established strong relations with the Palestinian community and Saudi officials. Sha'at is an engineer by profession. He studied civil engineering in both the UK and the US and received his Ph.D. from the University of Houston. He has nearly 20 years of experience in volunteer work. Prior to his posting in Jeddah, he was the Director General of International Cooperation at the Palestinian Foreign Ministry and deputy mayor of Rafah. In his first interview with Saudi Gazette, Consul General Sha'at said he was proud that he had been posted to Jeddah and said services offered to the Palestinian community had been greatly improved. At nearly 500,000, the Palestinian community in the Kingdom is one of the biggest expatriate communities. Approximately 150,000 Palestinians live in Jeddah and a further 20,000 to 30,000 in the Kingdom's western and southern regions. The consulate is the main contact point between Palestinians and the Saudi government. According to Sha'at, the consulate has two main responsibilities: to serve Palestinians and remain active in the diplomatic community by participating in events and occasions to represent the Palestinian community. To communicate closely with the Palestinian community, the consulate recently created a Facebook page. “Services provided to Palestinians living here are passport renewal and processing of travel documents especially since many Palestinians use Egyptian, Syrian, Lebanese or Iraqi travel documents. Other services include helping Palestinians who violate residency permit laws,” Sha'at explained. The consulate has a very organized method of operation with specialized departments to assist citizens. The Passport Department is in daily contact with the Saudi Passport Department to check if a Palestinian has been detained for violation of residency permit laws. Other departments include the Authenticity Department, Community Problems Department and Travel Documents Department. The role of the Palestinian community in Jeddah is significant. Palestinians work in collaboration with the consulate for the benefit of the whole community. A special committee in the consulate looks after needy Palestinians by providing them with monthly financial assistance and in Ramadan, food and other donations. Sha'at praised the strong and long-lasting Saudi-Palestinian relations in which the Saudi leadership offers full support to Palestine and Palestinians at all levels — economic, financial and political. “Saudi Arabia never spares any effort to support the Palestinian National Authority since the start of the Palestinian revolution. The Saudi government has always supported Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who is a frequent visitor to the Kingdom. The position of Saudi Arabia on the Palestinian issue never will change,” he said. Speaking on Palestine being approved as a non-member state in the United Nations, Sha'at said, “It's a real historical accomplishment in the history of Palestine and we thank all the 138 countries that backed Palestine and all the Arab countries who supported Palestine and helped us achieve this victory.” Sha'at said he is closely following the recent attacks on Gaza by the Israeli army. He accused Israel of violating all international laws by attacking civilians in Gaza. “This wasn't the first time. Israel has always been aggressive with the people of Gaza. Israel had three different things in mind when it attacked Gaza. First and foremost are the Israeli elections that will be held in January. The Israeli government wanted to show its people its strength by killing Palestinians, something they hope will pay off when Israelis cast their votes. They are competing with each other by killing Palestinians; whoever kills more Palestinians will win the upcoming elections. The result of this competition was 165 Palestinian deaths and over 1,250 injuries, the destruction of the entire infrastructure of Gaza and demolition of 150 houses. Secondly, Israel wanted to stop Palestinians, represented by President Abu Mazen, from going to the United Nations as this is a real victory for Palestinians and, thirdly, Israel wanted to test the new Egyptian government,” he said. Sha'at thanked the Egyptian leadership headed by President Mohamed Morsi who stood strongly behind the Palestinians and did a great job in helping both sides reach a ceasefire. On reconciliation between Palestinian factions, Sha'at said President Abbas will go to Egypt to start the reconciliation process. Egypt has invited all Palestinian factions to meet in Cairo and continue the reconciliation process. “Everyone is serious about it and we hope Hamas will also be serious about reconciliation. If all parties have goodwill for reconciliation, then we are there and we will unify all Palestinians in Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem.” As per the remains of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that were exhumed from his grave in Ramallah as part of an inquiry into whether he might have been assassinated, Sha'at said he hoped the truth would be revealed. “We know that Israel is the country who killed Arafat and all Palestinians are certain about this and we want to prove it for all to see.”
