Qatar has expressed its strong condemnation for the new Jewish nation-state bill adopted by Israel, stressing that it perpetuates racism and undermines any hopes that remain in the peace process and the two-state solution.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the step was a setback in the path towards coexistence and just peace, reported Gulf Times.

The ministry added that the bill was a blatant discrimination against Arab landowners, at a time when human civilization tends to celebrate diversity and to consolidate the values of tolerance and constructive civilizational interaction between people, cultures and languages.

 

The State of Qatar strongly condemns the so-called 'Jewish nation-state' law adopted by Israel and affirms that it is a law that perpetuates racism and undermines the remaining hopes in the peace process and the two-state solution, as well as a setback in the path of coexistence pic.twitter.com/cJ05O4la1W

— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) July 19, 2018

 

The bill, by turning the construction of settlements and the Judaisation of Al Quds into a constitutional principle, flagrantly violates international law and United Nations resolutions, including the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibits the transfer and displacement of people in occupied places during war, reported The Peninsula.

The UN Security Council Resolution 2334 of 2016, adopted by the Security Council, also directly criminalises Israeli settlements and calls for a cessation of violence against Palestinian civilians.

Qatar further called upon the international community to implement its resolutions and to compel Israel to abandon this ideological bill and to end its violations of international law. 

Qatar also called on all those who have an influence on Israel to stand by the law, justice and human values to discourage Israel from this decision and the approach that led to it and other violations it made, reported Qatar Tribune. 

Israel’s parliament had on Thursday adopted a law defining the country as the nation state of the Jewish people.

The legislation, adopted by 62 votes to 55, makes Hebrew the country’s national language and defines the establishment of Jewish communities as being in the national interest. Arabic, previously considered an official language, was granted only special status.

Arab lawmakers and Palestinians called the law ‘racist’ and said it legalised ‘apartheid’ following a tumultuous debate in parliament.