The Saudi Defense Minister discusses cooperation with his Bulgarian counterpart and confirms the Kingdom’s firm position on the Palestinian issue

Prince Khalid bin Salman, Saudi Minister of Defense, reviewed with his Bulgarian counterpart Dimitar Stoyanov aspects of cooperation relations between the two countries in the military and defense fields, and opportunities to develop them to serve their common interests.

During a phone call on Tuesday, the two sides discussed ways to enhance security and stability in the region, and a number of regional and international issues.

Saudi Arabia renewed its categorical rejection of any measures aimed at forcibly displacing the Palestinian people or any attempts to change the geographical or demographic character of the occupied Palestinian territory, expressing its strong condemnation of the expansion of settlement activities and settler terrorism.

It also reaffirmed that the only way to achieve a just, lasting and comprehensive peace is to implement the two-state solution, support the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and establish their independent, sovereign state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

This came during the participation of the Saudi Permanent Mission to the United Nations and international organizations in Geneva, within the work of the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council, as part of the general debate under Item Seven on the situation of human rights in Palestine and the other occupied Arab territories.

Saudi Arabia condemned in the strongest terms the continued Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, stressing the necessity of adhering to the ceasefire and ensuring full protection of civilians, in a statement delivered by Dr. Salem Al-Qahtani, Director General of the General Department of Humanitarian Affairs and the General Department of International Jobs and Nominations Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Dr. Al-Qahtani explained that Saudi Arabia appreciates the important steps taken by a number of countries to recognize the State of Palestine, and the recent strengthening of accountability measures that followed, including imposing restrictions on trade with Israeli settlements.

With the passage of one year since the adoption of the “New York Declaration,” Riyadh reaffirmed what was stated in the statement of the co-chairs of the “Global Alliance to Implement the Two-State Solution,” that Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, represent a single Palestinian territorial unit, and that the occupation must end.