21 October 2024 12:06 am Views - 80
Sri Lanka has always backed the cause of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian people. Whichever government was in power, unlike India which more recently has refrained from condemning Israel’s genocide in Palestine, Sri Lanka has been consistent in its support of Palestinian rights.
Therefore Lankans were shaken to the core, when a particular news media on 18 October announced Sri Lanka had opted not to back the condemning of Israel for its travel ban on the United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG).
According to that startling story Sri Lanka had chosen not to be a signatory to a letter signed by 105 countries, including European and African countries, as well as much of the Global South, that “condemned” Israel for banning United Nations Secretary- General (UNSG) entering into the country...” (Israel).
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz earlier in the week declared U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres persona non grata over what he described as a failure to condemn Iran’s missile attack on Israel. According to Israeli sources, none was killed in the Iranian strike and damage was minimal!
What is funny, had it not been so horrific, is the fact that Israel is continuing attacks on the Palestinian population in Gaza which commenced on 7 October 2023, in the aftermath of Hamas-led attacks.
To date, Israel has killed over 42,500 Palestinians including over 16,765 children. More than 99,546 people have been injured and over 10,000 others including children are believed to be buried under the rubble in the aftermath of the Israeli attacks on civilian targets.
Israel has also cut off all supplies of water, food and medicine to the Gaza Strip a city home to a population of about 2.3 million people.
According to the latest data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Health Organization, over half of Gaza’s homes have been damaged or destroyed. Israel; has also attacked 87 percent of school buildings. Since the invasion began Israel has also attacked health facilities in Gaza and only 17 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functional.
Israel has also destroyed 68 percent of road networks and 68 percent of cropland in Gaza.
Hilariously, the state of Israel which owes its creation to the United Nations Organisation which carved out the State of Israel from Palestinian territory, is now sanctioning the UN Secretary-General.
Israel is today illegally and forcibly occupying the whole of the State of Palestine. The UN has charged Israel with committing apartheid and genocide on Palestinians in its occupied territories. Israel is also carrying out attacks on Palestine’s West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, parts of Iraq and is now threatening the State of Iran!
It was in this light Sri Lankan’s were amazed that its government had not condemned Israel for declaring the UN Secretary General as persona non grata and banning him from entering Israel and the territories of Palestine which are under attack.
Lankan’s remember the 1970s, when its then premier Madame Sirimavo Bandaranaike, closed down the Israel embassy in Lanka for its 1967 annexing of Palestine and attacks on Egypt, Jordan, and Syria and its occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. This was despite warnings from the UK and Western powers which threatened an economic boycott of the country.
The story that Lanka was joining hands with the old colonial powers was unbelievable. Our people could not accept, our newly elected government -with Marxist leanings- could collude with international imperialism to accept Israeli genocide and the sanctioning of the UN Secretary-General.
Our sister paper the ‘Sunday Times’ on 20 October, corrected the position. Clarifying Lanka’s Permanent Mission in New York (UN) had asked the Chilean Mission which sponsored the letter in support of the UNSG that their names be added to the letter circulated on 11 October. The Mission had been informed by the Chilean Mission that an updated version of the signatories would be released next week.
The country sighed a joint sigh of relief.