The Palestinian Ambassador of the State of Palestine to Ghana, Mr Abdulfatah A. K. Alsattari, has emphasised the crucial importance of a two-state solution for resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict.
He said the two-state solution would ensure an independent State for the Palestinian people and reduce “interference and control” on the people of Palestine.
More than 1,400 Israelis and 5,000 Palestinians have lost their lives since a renewed conflict broke out between the two countries on Saturday, October 7, 2023.
This is the latest in seven decades of war and conflict between the two countries drawing in outside powers and destabilised the wider Middle East.
Addressing a news conference in Accra, on Monday, Mr Alsattari said the two-state solution remained the “best” path forward for a lasting peace and security between the two countries.
“If we want to stop this conflict, we call for an end to this war crime against the Palestinian people, and there is no solution to this conflict without the establishment of an independent Palestinian State and the Palestinian people need to show determination because we don’t like the occupier, we don’t like him.
“Nobody in this world likes anyone who tries to control his life,” he emphasised.
In the 1990s, the two-state solution was proposed to find a lasting solution to the conflict between the two countries.
At a 1993 summit held in Oslo, Norway, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) led Mahmoud Abbas agreed on a two-state solution.
Known as the Oslo I Accord, it was to see an independent Palestinian State established alongside the existing one of Israel, giving both people their own territory.
The two-state is the official position of the United Kingdom, United States of America, and the United Nations to addressing the conflict, and even Israel, according to international media.
However, three decades after it was signed, the agreement is yet to materalise.
Mr Alsattari blamed the failure of the agreement on Israel for refusing to accept the two-state solution, while it continued to carry out “atrocities” on the Palestinian people.
He accused Israel of committing “war crimes” against the Palestinian people, which he said included the killings of civilians, especially women and children.
He said, since 2008, more than 10,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, had been killed.
In 2008, for instance, Mr Alsattari said, more than 2,650 Palestinians were killed, 500 of whom were children, while over 100,000 houses were destroyed.
“In 2012, Israel attacked Gaza again. They killed 750 of my people (Palestinians). In the war in 2014, they killed more than 2,000 of my people, most of them were children and women,” he claimed.
The Ambassador also indicated that, since October 7, 2023, about 5,087 Palestinians had lost their lives, 2,055 of whom were children and 1,119 women.
“I want to ask, these children and women, are they Hamas. Why do they kill them. Why do they kill the children – six years seven years, one year, why do they kill pregnant women?
“Is this the international law, is this justice, is this the human rights?”
The Ambassador commended Egypt and other African countries, including Ghana for showing support and solidarity with the State of Palestine.
Source: GNA
