Sri Lanka, Palestine victims of selective application of international humanitarian law- Palestinian Ambassador

• Asks for continuous support from Sri Lanka
• the lives of people in Palestine matter no less than lives of others in the world,

By Kelum Bandara   

Palestinian Ambassador Dr. Zuhair M.H. Zaid said yesterday both Sri Lanka and Palestine were victims of the selective application of the international humanitarian law.  

Addressing a press conference to brief the Sri Lanka media about the current plight of embattled Gaza Strip and West Bank due to Israeli attacks, the ambassador said the lives of people in Palestine matter no less than lives of others in the world, and asked why the western powers maintain double standards when dealing with his country now suffering enormously due to the aggression by Israel unleashing a barrage of attacks killing numerous Palestinians including children on an hourly basis.   

He said the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had reached a critical point with the loss of countless innocent lives, and two-thirds of them are women and children. 

He said the Israeli onslaught amounts to the violation of the international humanitarian law, but the western powers United States, the United Kingdom and France use their veto powers in the UN Security Council to protect Israel.   
“It is not us or the Arab world that committed Holocaust on the Jewish people in history. We are the ones who protected them. Today, what is done by Israel to our people in the occupied territories is nothing but Apartheid . It is even worse than Apartheid in South Africa in history,” he said.   

He asked for persistent support of Sri Lanka in presenting the case of Palestine at this hour.  

“Your voice is important. We seek it further as you did earlier,” he said.  Asked whether he found any similarity being faced by Sri Lanka and Palestine in the selective application of the international humanitarian law, he said both the countries were in the same predicament.   

He said all Sri Lankans consider themselves as part of Sri Lanka despite having internal disputes to be resolved only by themselves without any imposition from outside.   

Also, he struck a note of caution on Sri Lankans leaving for jobs in Israel given the dangerous situation there. The ambassador added that the countries like Thailand had taken steps to evacuate its citizens.