COLOMBO: The 73rd anniversary of the Nakba Day was on the 15th of this month and came amid a massive devastating offensive against the Gaza Strip, resulted in seven consecutive days of slaying 181 Palestinian civilians including 52 children below the age of 18, and 31 women in addition to the injuries of more than 1225 mostly critical. Yet, in the West Bank clashes between Palestinian’s civilians with the Israeli occupation forces resulted in 21 whom shot dead by live Israeli bullets in addition to the injuries of more than 4363 people including Sheikh Jarah neighborhood east of the occupied Jerusalem city the Capital of Palestine; where the Israeli occupation authority trying to forcibly evict eight families, in 27 homes, and comprising of nearly 450 members, to let illegal settlers to move in.
According to the embassy of Palestine in Colombo, the new round of escalation has triggered in Jerusalem city mainly in Sheikh Jarah town where the Israeli colonization episodes of forced expulsion and deportation is continuing in a systematic policy since 1967, deliberately ensnared Sheikh Jarah with illegal Israeli settlements, excising it from the other Palestinian cities, and creating coercive environment for Palestinian families to simply exist. In tandem, over the holy month of Ramada, the Israeli extreme settlers backed by the Israeli police have carried on daily basis attacks on the Palestinian worshipers observing the holy month, and the Orthodox Easter, where 300 people were wounded forcing to the Palestinian resistance factions including Hamas in the Gaza Strip to react, where the Israeli forces responded massively with numerous airstrikes destroying tens of houses including five high rise building resulted to the mentioned number of casualties among civilians.
So, in this round of escalation, it is the Israeli occupation forces to be blamed, whom have created this environment of oppression, aggression, and forcible family evictions using all kinds of its military arsenal from water cannons to the warplanes and drones. It should be clear that displacement of Palestinian families is a war crime under the Rome Statute. Between 2017 and 2020 only, around 15 households, comprising 62 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from Sheikh Jarrah, none of this is out of the ordinary, but rather part of a systematic and deliberate plan to create facts on the ground, to displace the Palestinian people and replace them with illegal settlers, with the purpose or effect of manipulating the demographics of the occupied City and its legal status.
Israel’s violations and crimes in the occupied territories are threat to regional and international peace and security which require the international community to urgently act; in light of this steep escalation, the Palestinian leadership has called on the Security Council, Arab League, and Organizations of Islamic Cooperation to convene in order to form and international pressure to compel Israel to immediately stop committing additional heinous crimes against our innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Jerusalem City the Capital of Palestine.
Under this critical situation, the Palestinian leadership renewed its demand of providing all forms of protection for residents of Jerusalem and the rest of the Palestinian territories, with the necessity for hinting to Israel that these international community countries would reconsider their relations with them if Israel continued to ignore their repeated calls and appeals to stop committing crimes against the Palestinian people and to commit to international laws as an occupation state.
Riyad al-Maliki, Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affair and Expatriates urged in a meeting today 16/5 for the member of States of OIC Organization of Islamic Cooperation to form an international front to confront the ongoing Israeli war crimes against our people. Speaking before the emergency meeting of the executive committee at the level of Foreign Ministers of “OIC”, al-Maliki, said that this front shall be seeking action against Israeli war crimes in the UN Security Council, the United Nations General assembly, the Human Rights Council, and international courts.
He stressed the importance of forming this front to hold the Israeli occupation accountable, impose economic and political sanctions, and confront any party that supports Israeli war crimes. He said accountability of Israel will include demanding the implementation of commitments and United Nations resolutions, the most recent of which is Security Council Resolution 2334, and urgently prohibiting the work of companies working with settlements.
He confirmed that, “We are open to work with you and the international community in order to support the steadfastness of our people, thwart the conspiracy to undermine their rights, and to activate UN decisions, decisions of the OIC, and joint action through the organization’s ambassadors.”
