Online ReporterGibson Nyikadzino
Zimpapers Politics Hub
World leaders yesterday backed the right to Palestinian statehood at the opening session of the 81st United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, calling Israeli restrictions on aid to Gaza as a “shame” for the world.
French President Emmanuel Macron, condemned Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank, calling on the world to do more for the Palestinians. He said the prerequisite for security for Palestinians and Israelis anchored on respecting the “legitimate rights” of the Palestinian people.
“What is our credibility worth if we remain inactive on Gaza? I understand that some of you are very cynical. Some claim that peace has been achieved, but this has not opened up humanitarian deliveries. The scenes, the spectacle, it is shameful. Shame on all of us!” President Macron said.
He spoke against those claiming that Israel’s security hinged on “the violation of the sovereignty of all of its neighbouring states”, saying they were making a “very fateful error”.
Brazil’s President Lula da Silva and Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticised the UN, adding that it was failing at its mission of world peace and security.
President Erdogan said attempts to “strangle the state of Palestine will fail” despite the Israeli government refusing to stop the occupation.
“We are faced with a genocidal mindset that cannot get enough of killing. No one with a sense of humanity, mercy or compassion, no one guided by justice and conscience, can possibly remain indifferent to this picture.
“Attempts to strangle the state of Palestine will fail. God willing, we shall see those good days when an independent state of Palestine — based on the 1967 borders, with territorial integrity and with East Jerusalem as its capital — will be established,” President Erdogan said.
In their addresses, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney and his British counterpart Andy Burnham, strongly reaffirmed their support for the establishment of a Palestinian state and efforts to achieve a two-state solution.
Prime Minister Burnham told delegates that failure to achieve a two-state solution would “corrode trust” in politicians who had spoken about the issue but failed to take action.
He also announced that Britain had imposed a trade ban in goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and described the settlement project as an attempt to prevent the realisation of a two-state solution.
