'Israel' expanded regional conflict for 'pre-existing plans': Al-Thani

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
15 Oct 2024 14:42

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani affirms that "destruction will not work with the steadfast Palestinian people who are clinging to their legitimate rights."

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Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani gives a joint press conference with Iran's President, in Doha on October 2, 2024. (AFP)

"Israel" is deliberately expanding the Middle East conflict as part of "pre-existing plans" targeting the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani pointed out on Tuesday.

This comes as the Israeli occupation forces continue their aggression across Lebanon, killing more than 1,300 people since September 23. In parallel, the occupation's military persists with its daily raids on different West Bank cities and towns, destroying civilian infrastructure, intimidating Palestinians, and killing them in cold blood, while also bombing across Gaza and besieging northern Gaza.

In an address to Qatar's Shura Council, Sheikh Tamim indicated that "the easiest and safest way to stop the escalation on the border with Lebanon would have been to stop the war of extermination on Gaza."

"But Israel deliberately chose to expand the aggression to implement pre-existing plans in other locations such as the West Bank and Lebanon because it sees that the atmosphere [of inaction against it] would allow it," he said.

“Destruction will not work with the steadfast Palestinian people who are clinging to their legitimate rights,” Sheikh Tamim underscored.

Qatar condemns displacement of over a million Lebanese

Qatar has been actively involved in Gaza ceasefire negotiations and has consistently urged for a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Sheikh Tamim said on Tuesday that "Israel" had "begun to expand its aggression to Lebanon," condemning the displacement of over a million Lebanese and calling for the implementation of international resolutions, including Resolution 1701.

The Resolution was reached in the wake of the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon and calls for the full cessation of hostilities and the deployment of the Lebanese Army to Southern Lebanon, as well as the establishment of a demilitarized zone between the Blue Line buffer zone [between Lebanon and the occupied Palestinian territories] and the Litani River.

"Israel" completely disregarded the resolution in the aftermath of the war, continuously violating Lebanese sovereignty with overflights from its aircraft.

The Emir further accused the Israeli occupation regime of "exploiting the opportunity of the international community's inaction... to implement dangerous settlement plans in the West Bank."

The Qatari ruler stressed that "after all this killing and destruction" in the region, "Israel will have no choice but to comply with what the international community has agreed upon regarding the two-state solution."

Earlier this month, Sheikh Tamim considered that the failure of the international community to stop the war on Gaza was a green light to expand the "conflict".

He also expressed his "full support" for Lebanon and said he ordered that emergency aid be provided to all those displaced and affected amid the ongoing Israeli aggression on the country.

"I affirm the State of Qatar's full support for Lebanon and its brotherly people against the brutal attacks they are being subjected to," the Emir posted on social media platform X.