KUALA LUMPUR – Perikatan Nasional (PN) Youth today insisted that Israel be charged at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its violent attack on al-Aqsa Mosque and the Gaza Strip.
In a joint statement signed by five youth chiefs from PN, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku Rakyat Sabah (STAR), Parti Progresif Sabah (SAPP) and Gerakan, they seek an immediate cessation of war, military action and ethnic cleansing against Palestine.
They also urged international leaders and organisations to condemn the oppression and occupation in addition to pressuring Israel and the United States to be fair and honest in the pre-1967 agreement to establish a sovereign Palestinian state.
“(We) agree with the stand taken by the Malaysian government that support a fair and just solution through the Two-State Solution based on the pre-1967 border agreement with Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital as the only solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict,” the statement read.
The statement was signed by PN Youth chief Khairil Nizam Khirudin, national Armada Bersatu chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, STAR Youth chief Rizal Johari, SAPP Youth chief Jamain Sarudin and acting central Gerakan Youth chief Wong Chia Zhen.
To help Palestine, PN Youth will play its role and foster strategic cooperation with all parties to boost the #Aid4Palestine campaign that was recently launched by the Prime Minister’s special envoy to the Middle East Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.
It was reported that the Zionist Israeli military attacks and incursions on Palestinians began with an attack on al-Aqsa Mosque on May 7 followed by air strikes in Gaza since last Monday, and currently over 100 Palestinians have been reported killed with hundreds more injured.
Civilians displaced
More than 10,000 civilians meanwhile have been displaced in the Gaza Strip due to Israeli attacks, said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki at an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday reported Anadolu Agency.
Maliki stated that Israel has committed crimes and used violence against the people in the Gaza Strip, which is under blockade.
“Ongoing barbaric bombardments on Gaza has led to the displacement of more than 10,000 Palestinian citizens and the destruction of hundreds of homes across the region,” he said.
Maliki stated that Israel focused on the attacks with all their means, including the colonialists, who raided the homes of the Palestinians and shouted slogans “Death to the Arabs.”
Calling on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the UN General Assembly, the UN Human Rights Council, and international courts to act, Maliki asked the OIC to form an international front to strongly prevent Israel’s crimes and dangerous escalation.
He emphasised that normalisation with Israel means supporting the “racist system”, adding that normalising with the racist, colonist administration without ending Israel’s occupation in Arab and Palestinian lands means to support the apartheid regime and being party to its crimes.
The virtual extraordinary meeting of the OIC executive committee was held to discuss Israel’s attacks on Palestine.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in airstrikes since May 10, killing at least 197 people, including 34 women and 58 children, as well as injuring 1,235 more people.
The tensions spread from East Jerusalem to Gaza after Palestinian resistance groups there vowed to retaliate against Israeli assaults on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Sheikh Jarrah if they were not halted.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognised by the international community.
Initiate steps against Israel
Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations Munir Akram on Sunday called on the UN Security Council to initiate steps to hold Israel accountable for its war crimes and crimes against humanity, Xinhua News Agency reported.
“Above all, the Security Council must promote the full implementation of the relevant UN resolutions especially for the realisation of the two-state solution through the establishment of a viable, independent and contiguous Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders and Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” Akram told the Security Council’s open videoconference debate dedicated to discussing the recent escalation of violence in Israel, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
“In the grim backdrop of the deteriorating situation in the region, we urge the Security Council to fulfill its Charter obligations, to call for an immediate halt to Israel’s use of disproportionate and arbitrary force, to offer protections to the Palestinian civilians who are bearing the brunt of the Israeli attacks, and to ensure Israel’s full compliance with international humanitarian and human rights laws, including the right to life, freedom of worship, movement and peaceful assembly,” said the ambassador.
Israel must be asked to stop all unilateral and illegal steps including settlements and attempts to change the status of Jerusalem, noted Akram, who is currently president of the UN Economic and Social Council.
“Pakistan condemns Israel’s use of indiscriminate and disproportionate force, including aerial bombing, resulting in the deaths of nearly 200 Palestinians, including dozens of women and children, as well as destruction of civilian infrastructure,” he said.
“We also strongly condemn Israel’s deliberate and systematic assault against Palestinian worshippers in the Haram-al-Sharif, including the Al-Aqsa mosque during the holy month of Ramadan, its violation of the sanctity of these holy sites, its continued policy of expansion of its illegal settlements, its forced evictions of Palestinians and demolition of their homes, and its targetting of journalists and international media outlets in the occupied Palestinian territories,” said the ambassador.
These Israeli actions are unacceptable and in contravention of the norms of international law. They violate UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, and have grave implications for the maintenance of peace and security in the region and beyond, he added.
“The Palestinian cause is a legitimate struggle against an ‘occupying power’ by an ‘occupied people.’ It is a just struggle for self-determination and against foreign occupation. The asymmetry of power between an occupied and beleaguered people and one of the most powerful militaries in the region is stark and brutally evident,” said the ambassador.
After hundreds of Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police in East Jerusalem last week, Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, launched rocket attacks against Israel, which responded with intense airstrikes against targets in Gaza.
