KUALA LUMPUR - Recognition of the State of Palestine by more than 160 countries must be translated into concrete international action to realise its sovereignty and strengthen its ability to govern, said Advisor to the Prime Minister for International Relations of the State of Palestine, Dr Izzat Abdel Hadi.
He said diplomatic recognition alone was insufficient to establish a fully functioning sovereign state without measures to protect its territorial integrity, strengthen its institutions and address the challenges arising from the continued Israeli occupation.
He said the international community must adopt a firm stance against the expansion of Israeli settlements, settler violence and annexation, while ensuring the protection of Palestinian communities.
"The most important thing is to establish a credible, clear and time-bound pathway towards the realisation of a sovereign Palestinian state.
"We need to move from state-building to the realisation of the State of Palestine through concrete steps,” he said in an interview for Bernama TV’s ‘The Nation Diplomatic Dispatch’ programme, titled ‘Palestine Beyond The Headlines: Rebuilding Under Occupation’.
Abdel Hadi said the continued Israeli occupation, movement restrictions and policies that fragmented Palestinian territories remained among the main obstacles to the establishment of an independent state.
He said more than 800 checkpoints across 108 cities had made movement between Palestinian areas increasingly difficult, further affecting the people’s daily lives.
He also stressed that unifying Gaza and the West Bank was an important foundation for the realisation of a Palestinian state.
Abdel Hadi said concrete international action should also address the financial challenges facing the Palestinian Authority, particularly Israel’s continued withholding of Palestinian clearance revenues.
He said the revenues accounted for about 67 per cent of the Palestinian budget, but the Palestinian Authority had not received the funds for 20 months, severely affecting its ability to provide essential public services.
The financial constraints had affected the government’s capacity to pay full salaries to healthcare workers, maintain hospitals and meet the needs of the education sector.
Despite the difficulties, he said the Palestinian Authority continued to support the people in Gaza through education, healthcare and recovery programmes.
More than 40,000 students in Gaza were enrolled in schools with support from the Palestinian Education Ministry, while healthcare services and hospital operations continued despite the challenges, he said.
Abdel Hadi said releasing the withheld revenues and establishing predictable fiscal transfers were crucial to enabling the Palestinian Authority to fulfil its responsibilities.
He called on the international community to exert greater diplomatic pressure on Israel to release the funds and ensure accountability for its actions.
He said ending the Israeli occupation remained the primary objective in the Palestinian people’s pursuit of an independent and sovereign state. - BERNAMA