RAMALLAH, Saturday, December 01, 2018 (WAFA) – The Palestinian delegation participating in the Conference of the States Parties to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention held in The Hague succeeded in thwarting American attempts to questioning Palestine’s membership in the international organization, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Riyad Malki said on Saturday.

Malki said in a statement that the Palestinian delegation participated in the conference for the first time as a State Party after gaining full membership in the organization.

“Our delegation rejected an American attempt to add an item to the final statement questioning Palestine’s membership in OPCW, which was rejected by the Palestinian delegation supported by the vast majority of the Member States that defended the right of the State of Palestine to equal representation like other Member States and were dismayed by the American actions which disrupted the work of the Conference for several days,” said Malki in the statement.

He said that Palestine will work now on holding Israel accountable for using chemical weapons against the Palestinian people, expressing the possibility of requesting from OPCW to send experts to inspect Israel’s use of banned chemical substances in the occupied territory.

M.K.