At the General Assembly debate on the situation in the Middle East today, the Maldives highlighted the failure of the international community to bring an end to Israeli occupation and the apartheid system in place has strove to change the mind-sets of generations that have grown up in an atmosphere of hatred, fear and violence. Maldives reiterated its call for the full realization of the right of Palestinian people to establish their own State, alongside Israel, on the basis on the 1976 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The statement delivered by Mr. Jeffrey Salim Waheed, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Maldives also focused on the Syrian conflict and the so-called Islamic State. The so-called Islamic State, derived from the Syrian conflict and the inability of the international community to bring it to an end, represents the greatest emerging threats to our community, the statement said. The Maldives stressed that these acts of barbarity committed in the name of Islam are both "inhumane
and un-Islamic".
To ultimately destroy this so-called Islamic State, we need to end the flow of foreign terrorist fighters and countering their financing, urged the Maldives. Moreover, the international community needs to act in unison and immediately, said the statement.
The Maldives also noted that the Syrian conflict has created the world's greatest refugee crisis, with Syria's neighboring countries having to bear the brunt of it for the past 5 years without the international community reacting. The refugee crisis took a global dimension only when thousands of individuals began flooding into Europe, the statement noted.
Mr. Waheed while welcoming the nuclear agreement signed between Iran and the P5+1, noted that the deal represents a sign of hope that issues of tension can be resolved in the region in a peaceful and diplomatic manner.
