KUWAIT CITY, Feb 9, (Agencies): The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned and rejected the Israeli Prime Minister’s recent statements against Saudi Arabia, expressing support for the Kingdom in safeguarding its stability and sovereignty. In a statement issued on Sunday, the ministry also reiterated its rejection of any attempts to displace the Palestinian people. It commended Saudi Arabia and other nations for their efforts in securing the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the establishment of an independent state along the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Jassem Al-Budaiwi strongly condemned and denounced, on Sunday, the statements issued by the Israeli occupation against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and their demand to establish a Palestinian state within Saudi territory.

In a press statement, Al-Budaiwi stated that these dangerous and irresponsible statements confirm the approach of the Israeli occupation forces in their lack of respect for international laws and treaties, as well as the sovereignty of nations. He reaffirmed the firm and steadfast stance of Saudi Arabia and the GCC countries in supporting the Palestinian people in obtaining their legitimate rights, and the significant and valuable efforts exerted in regional and international forums to support the Palestinian cause. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia appreciated on Sunday the condemnation, disapproval and total rejection announced by countries towards Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks on the displacement of the Palestinian people from their land. A press release by the Saudi Foreign Ministry, it affirmed that it values the positions emphasizing the centrality of the Palestinian issue to Arab and Muslim countries, stressing its categorical rejection of such statements. These statements, read the press release, aim to divert attention from the continuous crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against Palestinians in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are subjected to. It also pointed out that this extremist mentality does not understand what the Palestinian land means to the people of Palestine and their emotional, historical and legal connection to it, and reaffirmed the Palestinians’ right to their land. The occupation with its disregard for Palestinian lives, has destroyed Gaza Strip, killed and injured more than 160,000 people most of them children and women, without the slightest human feeling or moral responsibility.

Saudi Arabia reiterated that the right of the Palestinian People will remain firmly established, and asserted that lasting peace will not be achieved except by adopting reason and accepting peaceful coexistence through the two state solution. In latest developments, Israeli forces withdrew from a key Gaza corridor on Sunday, Israeli officials and Hamas said, part of Israel’s commitments under a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas that is moving ahead but faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension. Israel agreed as part of the truce to remove its forces from the 4-mile (6-kilometer) Netzarim corridor, a strip of land that bisects northern Gaza from the south that Israel used as a military zone during the war.