Friday, May 03, 2024
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday placed a five-point recommendation to end the brutal carnage in Palestine, which continues despite calls from global communities for an immediate ceasefire.
She put forward the recommendations in a recorded video speech screened in the 8th Extraordinary Islamic Summit, convened at the invitation of Saudi Arabia to discuss the brutal and unprecedented Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, kicked off on November 9 last in Riyadh.
"Firstly, a call for an immediate ceasefire of the vicious one-sided war forced by Israel on Palestine (is required)," she said, describing the war as an unjust one, ruthlessly violating human rights and international humanitarian laws.
For over a month, she said that Gaza has been burning, and it continues even now. "Israel is on a merciless rampage with no respite, bombing hospitals and civilian infrastructure and killing thousands of Palestinians, mostly women and children," she said.
Placing her second recommendation, the prime minister said, “There is an immediate need to open a humanitarian corridor for a continuous, rapid, and safe supply of food, water, medicine, and other lifesaving materials for the trapped residents of devastated Gaza.”
While the relentless Israeli bombing is killing people in the thousands, it seems that the international community has become immobilized at the sight of death and destruction, she said.
"We need to act quickly, at least for a safe humanitarian corridor," she added.
In her third recommendation, she said “The killing of innocent civilians and the clearing of areas through barbaric means have created an environment of terror. Such vicious acts must be punished so that the people whose hearth and homes lie in Gaza can once again lead peaceful lives in their own land.”
Putting forward her fourth recommendation, she said, "We must visit all our agreed decisions at the UN, the Arab Peace Initiative, and the Quartet Road Map and strive for an early solution that will bring permanent peace among the peoples of the region."
In the fifth suggestion, she said the Muslim Ummah must be united on this important issue of Palestine. “They are our brothers and sisters who have been denied their right to self-determination and the right to their own homeland for the last 55 years. It is about time that all of us together stand by them and help them realize their justified demand," she said.
Sheikh Hasina said women and children suffer the most in war, and young men give their lives. “We believe in peace and oppose all kinds of war and occupation of other countries. We want any problem to be solved peacefully,” she said.
“My appeal to all: stop war; stop the arms race. Let each country regain its sovereignty and the right to live in peace. Wherein lies the welfare of mankind," she said.
The prime minister reiterated that Bangladesh supports and stands by Palestinian brothers and sisters’ right to self-determination, sovereignty, and independence based on the 1967 border and the Two-State Solution with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital. "We hope you will all do so too," she said.
She said Gaza has been the most densely populated open-air prison in the world for decades. The once-persecuted Jewish people are now pitilessly destroying the homes, hopes, and families of hapless Palestinians who gave them shelter during their difficult days, she added.
The prime minister expressed deep gratitude to Mohammad Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud for holding the summit.
