Cairo / Information Office / December 04

The State of Qatar has reiterated its firm stance against violence and terrorism, regardless of their motives and reasons, and its total rejection of all acts that sanctify blood and sanctities and innocent lives. It stressed that terrorism and extremism in all their forms and manifestations continue to be a source of threat to our peoples and our countries, and to our economic and social achievements, calling for continuation and intensification of individual and collective efforts to eradicate this scourge.

This came in a speech delivered today by the Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the Arab League HE Ambassador Saif bin Muqaddam Al-Buainain, at the emergency meeting of the Council of the League of Arab States at the level of permanent delegates .

HE Ambassador Saif bin Muqaddam Al Buainain said that the State of Qatar had expressed its strong condemnation of the heinous crime, which is contrary to the lofty principles of the Islamic religion and our faith, which was the brutal terrorist act that targeted the worshipers at Al Rawda Mosque in North Sinai.

He stressed that the State of Qatar, which is an active member of the international coalition to fight the ISIS group (Daesh) and the Islamic Alliance for Combating Terrorism, has joined many international and regional conventions. It has also enacted many legislation to combat terrorism and its financing. It has established several national committees on cooperation with regional and international institutions. The issue of combating terrorism is based on many pillars that stem from the comprehensiveness of its vision to deal with this phenomenon.

He pointed out that these pillars are to emphasize the support of the State of Qatar for international and regional efforts within the framework of international legitimacy to eradicate this phenomenon and continue efforts to implement the United Nations strategy to combat terrorism to strengthen cooperation with all regional and international institutions, calling for not adopting double standards in dealing with terrorism and rejecting to link it to a particular religion, doctrine or race or culture and not only the fight against terrorism on the security dimension, with the necessity and importance, but must be to spread the values of tolerance and culture of pluralism and dialogue and the need to address the root causes through the spread of education and the elimination of unemployment and job creation, especially for young people, he added.

He also noted that these pillars are also a call for intensifying cooperation and accelerating the comprehensive convention on terrorism, including a specific definition, while emphasizing the need to distinguish between terrorism and the right of peoples to legitimate resistance to occupation and the necessity of countering counterterrorism measures with international obligations, laws and human rights law, and international humanitarian law.

HE the Ambassador Al Buainain said that dealing with this great challenge requires an integrated strategy to end the conflicts and crises, as they represent a suitable environment for nurturing the growth factors of extremism and terrorism. The priority is to end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian and Arab territories and establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He said that any decision issued by this meeting on the fight against terrorism must be based on the decisions of the Council of the League at the summit level, at the ministerial level and in coordination with the Councils of Arab Ministers of Interior and Justice.

Concluding, HE Saif bin Muqaddam Al-Buainain stressed that the battle against terrorism and terrorists and confronting the malicious methods and means they use to mislead society and young people require constant review of priorities and improving means of confrontation to maintain their effectiveness.