Diplomats call for ceasefire in Gaza

Three foreign diplomats in Ghana have called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire of the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip in order to end the humanitarian tragedy going on there.

Making reference to the thousands of women, children and men that who been killed since the war began last year, the ambassadors said they stood in solidarity with Gaza and its people.

The ambassadors are the Algerian Ambassador to Ghana, Mourad Louhaidia; the Pakistani High Commissioner to Ghana, Farhat Ayesha and the Namibian High Commissioner to Ghana, Selma Ashipala-Musavyi.

They said this at an event organised by the Palestinian Embassy in Accra, to commemorate International Day of support for the people of Gaza and the Palestinian Prisoners.

Also present at the event were the ambassadors, high Commissioners or the representatives of diplomatic missions of countries such as Egypt, Russia, Turkey, Angola, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Sudan, Libya and Qatar in Ghana.

"We call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza; provision of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people; de-escalation of tensions in the region and accountability for the war crimes committed by the occupation authorities," said Ms Ayesha. 

Solidarity 

Expressing her country's solidarity with the people and government of Palestine, Ms Ayesha reiterated Pakistan's support for the creation of a secure, viable and contiguous and sovereign state of Palestine based on the pre-June 1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

She also expressed Pakistan's condemnation of the assassination of the Chief of the Political Bureau of Hamas in Tehran, Ismail Haniyeh, pointing out that her country condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including extrajudicial and extraterritorial killings irrespective of the motives.

Mr Louhaidia said Gaza was facing a large-scale humanitarian catastrophe which was further worsened by the recent escalation of Israel's military operation.

He said the only way to end the tragedy in Gaza was to ensure the Palestinian people's inalienable right to create their own independent state with Al Quds Sharif (Jerusalem) as the capital.

"This is the sole and only means of setting the Palestinian issue and restoring peace, security and stability in the region of the Middle East," he reiterated.

For her part, Ms Ashipala-Musavyi expressed the hope that Palestine would be free one day because there had not been any occupation that had lasted forever.

"The blood of the Palestinian people, the tears of the mothers and children will pave the way for the liberation of Palestine. We, in Namibia, are products of apartheid colonialism and today Namibia is an independent state. Gaza today is a symbol of resistance, a symbol of commitment, dedication and that's why it is taking Israel so long to fully occupy Gaza," she said.

Defence

The Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Ghana, Abdalfatah A. K. Alsattari, said though Accra was bigger than Gaza, Israel would not be able to occupy it because the Palestinians knew how to defend themselves.

He said if Israel wanted peace, then it should sit down on the table with Palestinian leaders and sign peace with the Palestinian people.

"All the world ask the Israelis to leave our lands. They talk about the two-state solution. They ask Israel to stop its occupation of our lands which they occupied in 1967 and stop the war against the Palestinian people. Israel doesn’t want to stop because she has her own international law," he said.

Mr Alsattari said the only solution to ending the conflict was the two-state solution which Israel had refused to agree to.