The Shura Council held Monday its ordinary weekly session at Tamim bin Hamad Hall at the Council's headquarters, under the chairmanship of its Speaker HE Hassan bin Abdullah al-Ghanim. During the session, the Council reviewed the state's draft general budget for fiscal 2024, and a draft law approving the general budget referred to the Council by the esteemed government. The Council decided to refer the two aforementioned drafts to the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee to study them and submit its report to it.
At the beginning of the session, the Council expressed its strong condemnation and denunciation of the Israeli occupation forces' bombing of Al Fakhoora School that shelters thousands of displaced people in the Jabalia camp as well as the targeting of a number of hospitals in Gaza, stressing that these brutal massacres committed by the occupation without regard to the nature of educational and health facilities are a blatant violation of the provisions of international law and international humanitarian law.
The Council stressed the important role of regional and international parliaments and parliamentary unions in seeking to stop these violations, pointing out that the war crimes committed by the occupation forces against the defenseless Palestinian people without deterrence portend dire implications that the entire world bears its consequences.
The Council also denounced the statements made by Heritage Minister in the Israeli occupation government regarding the threat to strike the Gaza Strip with a nuclear bomb, stressing that the Israeli minister's statement is a reflection and embodiment of the brutality and barbarism of the extremist occupation government. It warned at the same time of the consequences of escalation policies pursued by the extremist occupation government in the Palestinian territories.
The Council welcomed the delegations participating in the 17th meeting of Speakers of the Shura, Representatives, National and Ummah Councils in the GCC countries that will be held in Doha Tuesday.
The Council looked forward to the meeting's contribution to strengthening GCC parliamentary co-operation relations and pushing them to broader horizons in an effort to support the process of joint GCC action.
Then, HE Secretary-General of the Shura Council Dr Ahmed bin Nasser al-Fadala read out the session's agenda, and the minutes of the previous session were approved. HE the Speaker then briefed the members on his participation along with the Council delegation in the 35th emergency conference of the Arab Parliamentary Union that was hosted by the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, last October, in light of the escalation taking place in the occupied Palestinian territories and the brutal aggression of the occupation forces against the Palestinian brothers.
He explained that the conference adopted an Arab parliamentary position regarding the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories as well as discussed how to provide the necessary support to the brothers in Palestine. In his speech before the conference, he affirmed the commitment of Qatar, under the leadership and directives of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to defend the brotherly Palestinian people by providing them with continuous humanitarian support.
The Shura Council in session.
