By Michael Appel, NNN-BUA NEWS
Pretoria : South Africa and the Council of Arab Ambassadors are deeply concerned about the ongoing and intensified Israeli military operations against the Palestinian people in both the West Bank and Gaza.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad met with the Arab Council on Monday to discuss the serious deterioration of the situation in the Middle East, and the military escalation against Palestinian civilians recently.
“As a member of the (United Nations) Security Council, South Africa is deeply concerned about the intensified military actions against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories. Casualties are heavy, heavy military equipment is being used and indeed, many civilian casualties can be counted amongst the dead and injured,” said Pahad.
He highlighted that the lack of respect for international law, in particular the Geneva Convention’s 4th Convention relating to protecting civilians in times of conflict, was of grave concern. One of the greatest threats to international peace, he said, was if the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was allowed to escalate unabated, until it became a conflict which affected all.
“We have consistently briefed you (the media) about the humanitarian tragedy in the occupied Palestinian territory, we have consistently called on the international community to respond to what the UN agencies have called a catastrophe and indeed, now, the situation is much worse. Hospitals have been affected, schools are affected — the situation, which was previously bad has really worsened,” Pahad said.
He added that Palestine had called both for an urgent Arab Foreign Ministers meeting which is set to take place in the next few days, as well as a meeting with the UN Security Council.
Libyan Ambassador Abdalla Alzubedi, who is the Dean of both the Diplomatic Corps based in South Africa and of the Council of Arab Ambassadors, said the Arab Ambassadors, as an organization, “strongly condemn the Israeli criminal attacks against the Palestinian civilian population”.
“It views these attacks as a direct violation of international law and legitimacy … and calls on the international community to intervene directly to stop this campaign of killing and murder,” he added
Alzubedi indicated that the Council plans to take the plight of the Palestinian people to other members of the diplomatic community, as well as the South African Parliament and various other spheres of civil society.
In a statement, the Council said it values and appreciates the position of the government and the people of South Africa in their unwavering support for the cause of Palestinians in their struggle for freedom and independence.