The Kuwaiti diplomat said that successive reports "clearly" indicated that brutal Israeli practices had continued in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that it was violating the rights of Palestinians and others in occupied Arab territories, leading to a grave deterioration of their living conditions, as well as the economic and social circumstances under which they lived. He said that it was unfortunate that after half a century, the Middle East crisis, with the Palestinian issue at its core, remained unchanged and that the suffering of the Palestinian people continued with Security Council resolutions remained unimplemented. He added that despite international efforts to revive the Middle East peace process, the Israeli government - instead of building trust and confidence - was continuing its inhumane actions and excessive use of military machinery against defenseless Palestinians, destroying Palestinians houses, infrastructure and national institutions, closing border crossings, limiting the movement of people and products, and expanding illegal settlement activities, while continuing to impose a political siege. "All of these acts are in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949," he said, noting that Israel was continuing to build its separation wall on Palestinian land, including in and around East Jerusalem, and had confiscated 60 percent of these lands and destroyed the water well in them. Al-Otaibi said that Israel claimed to be working to guarantee human rights and that it respected international convention, when in fact, UN investigations found this claim to be void. --SPA 13:54 LOCAL TIME 10:54 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/717615