NAM should take solid steps to stop Israel
Reiterating solidarity with the Palestine people, Dhaka yesterday called upon the NAM member states to mobilise collective strength and use power to compel Israel to stop committing crimes against humanity in Gaza.
“The way Israel is using the power of coercion, the same way the NAM Member States should use the power of denial to bring Israel to civilised behaviour,” Gowher Rizvi, the prime minister's adviser on international affairs, told an emergency meeting of the NAM Committee on Palestine being held in Tehran.
He said, “Israel is no longer as invulnerable as it used to be since the international public opinion is clearly divided on the wanton aggression it continues to commit against Palestine.”
The meeting adopted a declaration calling upon the Non-Aligned Movement members to ensure a number of multilateral and bilateral actions against the backdrop of the current situation in Gaza Strip where the death toll from Israeli shelling is past 1,800 now.
Gowher reaffirmed the solidarity of the government and people of Bangladesh with the Palestinians being subjected to the unremitting violence and atrocities by Israel.
Bangladesh has been invited to this meeting as one of the 11 members of the NAM Committee, said a press release.
The adviser said the NAM should send out a strong message to Israeli authorities by imposing trade embargo, denying visas to Israeli politicians, officials and business people accused of committing crimes against humanity, slapping a ban on arms trade with Israel for violating the provisions of the Arms Trade Treaty, and suspending overflight permission to Israeli aircraft through the airspace of NAM member countries.
Gowher Rizvi stressed that time had come to move beyond the traditional approach of censure and official declarations and resolutions to drive home NAM's unequivocal stand against Israeli brutalities and breach of international humanitarian principles.
The continued inability of the UN Security Council to impose ceasefire and bring the aggression to a halt should prompt the NAM to consider alternative approaches, including the ones through the UN General Assembly, he said.
The emergency meeting, inaugurated by President of Iran Hassan Rouhani, heard a briefing on the latest situation in Gaza from Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki.
Ministers from Egypt, South Africa, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria and Venezuela and special representatives from Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Morocco, Jordan and other NAM member countries also spoke at the meeting.
Bangladesh's Ambassador to Iran Khandakar Abdus Sattar was also present.
Meanwhile, the condemnation of Israeli atrocities continued yesterday with different organisations forming a human chain and holding a rally in Moulvibazar town.
Shishu Kishore Mela and the residents of Kamalganj upazila staged seperate protests, urging all peace-loving people to contribute to the independence of Palestine.
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