By Sri Lanka Journalist for Global Justice (SLJGJ) has expressed deep concerns at recent moves by Israel to cement close ties with Sri Lanka
The Sri Lanka Journalists for Global Justice (SLJGJ) said that it notes with alarm the recent moves by Israel to cement close ties with Sri Lanka in the face of mounting world censure for its war against Gaza.
The unannounced visit by Israeli Minister of Transport and Road Safety Miriam Regev, has, according to news reports, resulted in the government agreeing to sudden programmes of co-operation in the fields of aviation and transport. The SLJGJ is concerned that various government ministers are rushing into quick deals with a country whose regime is today subject to intense global condemnation. No other regime in the world has been subjected to such censure since the racist Apartheid regime of South Africa., points out the journalist forum .
The SLJGJ calls on the government to reconsider this rush to develop ties with Israel at a time when the Israeli government faces severe condemnation for its ongoing brutal war against the people of Palestine that is causing instability in the whole region. Sri Lanka should not be shamed in the eyes of the world community by such cavalier and irresponsible dealings with a regime under the legal and watchful scrutiny of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court for genocidal actions and war crimes. Such rash dealings only help attempts by the Israeli regime to legitimize its standing even as it pursues a terrible, destabilizing war that most of the world says is ‘genocidal’.said the Journalist forum
Two-state solution in Palestine
President Ranil Wickremesinghe convened a meeting at the Presidential Secretariat with Ambassadors from ten Middle Eastern nations and reemphasized Sri Lanka’s unwavering commitment to the two-state solution in Palestine.
Sri Lanka proposed to the Non-Alligned Movement (NAM) that it should spearhead a campaign to set up a state of Palestine within the next five years while reiterating its longstanding position of recognising the Palestinian peoples right to self-determination and the nationhood.
“As we meet today, a humanitarian crisis is unfolding in the Gaza Strip and beyond. For over three months immense suffering and losses have been endured by the Palestinian civilian population, endangering regional security and stability. Until now, the NAM was largely silent. How can we remain silent when Gaza is destroyed? People were denied humanitarian aid and a vast majority of the dead were innocent civilians. Silence implies consent,” President Wickremesinghe told the gathering that included top government leaders of 123 member states of the bloc,at the nonaligned confer ace in kampala .
