Palestine PM Mohammad Mustafa in his congratulatory letter to Indian PM Narendra Modi, urges India to call for an ‘immediate ceasefire.’
Palestine PM Mohammad Mustafa, in a letter dated 12 June, to Narendra Modi, the current PM of India, asked for India’s support and help with the ceasefire in Gaza. It’s also a congratulatory letter for Modi on his 3rd time winning.
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In the letter he mentioned, India’s “steadfast support and solidarity” for Palestinian people and their rights throughout time, he thanked Modi as India has consistently extended its support towards the Palestinian cause.
Dr. Mustafa has called upon India and said India can play a “significant role” in resolving the violence in Gaza. The Israeli attacks on Gaza have been described as “Genocide” by people from all over the world as well as the Palestine PM.
WHY CALLED IT ‘GENOCIDE’: As of now, till May in this Israel – Hamas war, Israel has killed more than 35,000 people, in Gaza, mainly civilians, and 2.3 million people of Gaza region were mostly driven out of their homes. Calculating the death toll has been a conflict since Israel started bombing even the hospitals. The Palestinian Health Ministry says, more than 70% of the dead are women and children.
Although there’s been a conflict in OCHA stands for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs saying since the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health they (OCHA) changed their number. Their overall estimated number says more than 34,900 Palestinians have died.
- WHAT IS GENOCIDE: The UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.”
- Killing members of the group
- Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group
- Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part
- Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group
- Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
A UN Human rights expert Francesca Albanese, said and I quote “There are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide against Palestinians as a group in Gaza has been met.”
The UN’s top court has ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza but stopped short of telling it to halt the war, as BBC mentioned.
So, the Palestine Prime Minister in the letter urged India saying, “As a global leader and a nation that values human rights and peace, India holds a significant role in bringing an end to the genocide in Gaza.”
He requested the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call for “an immediate ceasefire” and to take a “resolute stance” against such acts of brutality in Gaza.
“It is imperative for India to utilize all diplomatic channels to call for an immediate ceasefire, increase humanitarian aid to Gaza to help alleviate the suffering, and collaborate with the International community to ensure the protection and safety of Palestinian civilians,” said Dr. Mustafa.
As he mentioned in his letter, “The situation in Gaza constitutes a humanitarian catastrophe that demands immediate and decisive action.”
Dr Mustafa also added in his letter, “I would like to affirm the importance of advancing our bilateral relations and mutual interests which are based on solid and long-lasting foundation. I am confident that these unbreakable ties will continue to strengthen and develop in the years to come.”
Last year as well India backed a United Nations General Assembly resolution about the Israel – Hamas conflict seeking an immediate ceasefire. However, India did not mention it explicitly yet.
Last month at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in a speech about India’s position on this conflict, especially after Palestine’s application for admission to the United Nations got rejected, Ruchira Kamboj, the former permanent Representative of India to the United Nations mentioned 4 brief points, here goes:
- “The ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas had led to a large-scale loss of civilian lives, especially women and children, and a humanitarian crisis which is simply unacceptable. We have strongly condemned the deaths of civilians in the conflict. We firmly believe that International Law and International Humanitarian Law must be respected by everyone under all circumstances.
- The terror attacks in Israel on 7th October were shocking and they deserve our unequivocal condemnation. There can be no justification for terrorism and hostage-taking. India has a long-standing and uncompromising position against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and we demand the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
- It is imperative that Humanitarian Aid to the people of Gaza be scaled up immediately in order to avert a further deterioration in the situation. We urge all parties to come together in this endeavor we welcome the efforts of The United Nations and the International Community. In this regard, I will state here that India has provided Humanitarian Aid to the people of Palestine and that we will continue to do so.
- My leadership has repeatedly emphasized that only a two-state solution achieved through direct and meaningful negotiations between both sides on Final status issues will deliver an enduring peace. India is committed to supporting a two-state solution where the Palestinian people are able to live freely in an independent country within secure borders with due regard to the security needs of Israel.”
On April 18, the U.S. used its VETO to block Palestine’s application for admission to the UN.
The 15-Nation Council had voted on a draft recommending full membership to Palestine.
The resolution got 12 votes, as Switzerland and the UK abstained.
The draft resolution, however, was not adopted because the U.S. used its VETO power.
Palestine currently holds “Non-Member Observer State” status at the UN, granted in 2012.
This only allows Palestine to participate in UN proceedings but to not vote on Resolutions.
Whereas India always supported the ‘two-state’ solution for Palestine as well as being a part of the UN. India has asked the UN to reconsider Palestine’s application for admission, just so it can be a full member and a part of the United Nations.
How it started: The present conflict between Israel – and Hamas, as it was mentioned in the UNGA speech also started on 7th October when Hamas attacked independently on Israel in their southern region. As a result of the attack were 1,200 people killed and 251 hostages were taken. There is no comparison in losses of human lives but in response to that attack, Israel started bombing the entire Gaza Strip.
There was a warning as well, according to Kan, Israel’s public broadcaster, there’s an intel report by the Israel Defense Forces that a large–scale training preparation was going on by Hamas.
But somehow it did not reach the higher-ups in their government, and the country’s top military leaders, as they claimed they were not informed about any imminent invasion or a threat at the time.
GAZA: The Gaza Strip is occupied by both Israel and Palestine. Throughout time as a result of various wars sometimes Israel (mainly) and Palestine have been in power in the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Strip and West Bank were part of Mandate Palestine but then captured by Israel in 1967. Israel still controls the Gaza Strip’s airspace and territorial waters as well as the movement of people or goods in or out of Gaza by air or sea.
Even after Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 The United Nations Human Rights Watch and many others still consider Israel to be the occupying power of the Gaza Strip.
Since 2006, the Gaza Strip has been controlled by the Hamas.
HAMAS: Hamas is a group of militias, who are Palestinian nationalists. They are the governing body, both in the military and in politics of the Gaza Strip. This Islamist group is dedicated to establishing an independent Islamic state in historical Palestine.
Also, this Islamist group, Hamas is considered a terrorist group by the UK and many other countries. As their sole purpose is to destroy Israel, and rule Gaza.
- The recent attack of Hamas on Israel, the reason behind it, was the response to the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, illegal Israeli settlement, and many more.
The Palestine Prime Minister has called Israel’s continuous attack a ‘Genocide’ and many more all over the world stand by it but Israel still denies all sorts of genocidal accusations against them.
Yet their mass level of destruction and total siege of necessities even for the civilians like water, food, medical supplies, and fuel – is evidence enough.
After all these, a question arises on its own, since all these powerful international countries and even The UN are not directly stopping Israel from committing such a heinous crime, genocide, then who can tell that in future some other country won’t do it, doing the same thing?
