ATROCITIES AGAINST PALESTINIANS AN 'AFFRONT TO HUMANITY', SAYS BANGLADESH CHIEF ADVISER

By Shakir Husain

NEW DELHI, Nov 26 (Bernama) -- Bangladesh on Tuesday denounced the ongoing Israeli genocidal campaign in the occupied Palestinian territories as an affront to humanity.

In a message to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, interim government Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus said Israel has killed a large number of innocent women and children.

"This ongoing tragedy is a profound affront to humanity as a whole. Palestinians are not an expendable people, and those responsible for these atrocities must be held accountable," Yunus said.

"Bangladesh firmly believes that the illegal occupation of Palestinian land must end, allowing the Palestinian people their right to an independent state," he said.

The date of Nov 29 is observed as the Palestinian solidarity day since 1978 in remembrance of the United Nations General Assembly resolution that partitioned Palestine into Jewish and Arab states in 1947.

Israel's creation in 1948 intensified the exodus of Palestinians as Jewish militias unleashed a wider campaign of terror against the Arab population of Palestine.

It is estimated that 750,000 Palestinians out of a population of 1.9 million became refugees between 1947 and 1949 in the ethnic cleansing known as the Nakba (catastrophe).

Israel, with the backing of the United States and Western countries, has continued to grab Arab land and destroy Palestinian presence throughout the occupied territories to render a future Palestinian state unviable.

Its ongoing destruction of Gaza is viewed as a more blatant atrocity to depopulate Gaza and build illegal settlements, a colonisation project that is strongly supported by American Jews and Washington's Jewish political lobby.

Almost the entire population of 2.3 million in Gaza has been displaced by relentless Israeli bombings.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The International Court of Justice in an advisory on July 19 declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories as unlawful and in violation of international law.

-- BERNAMA