Palestine Crisis: Muslim Ummah’s united efforts can solve it

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said the solution to the Palestine crisis lies in the united efforts of the Muslim Ummah.

"If the Muslim Ummah works in a united way, it will be possible to solve the Palestine crisis," she said while the envoys of 14 OIC member states called on her at the Gono Bhaban yesterday.

Ambassador of Palestine Yousef SY Ramadan led the delegation.

Prime Minister's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting.

Envoys of Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Morocco, Qatar, Libya, Turkey, Iran, Brunei, the UAE, Iraq, Oman, Indonesia and Egypt were present at the meeting.

HASINA CONDEMNS ATTACK

Speaking at a programme at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre, Hasina yesterday denounced the attack on a hospital in Gaza that killed innocent people, including children.

She reiterated her call to global leaders to stop the war and arms race for the wellbeing of mankind.

"We saw the killing of people and children by bombing on a hospital [in Gaza ] and bloodstained faces of the children yesterday [Tuesday]. I'm urging the world leaders to stop the war and arms race," she said.

The programme was organised to mark Sheikh Russel Day-2023, distribution of Sheikh Russel Padak-2023 and Smart Bangladesh Padak-2023.

Hasina said war and arms race never brought welfare for mankind, and that women and children are the worst sufferers of such conflicts.

"We want peace as it gives prosperity while war brings destruction. So, we don't want war.... We always work for establishing peace."

She said people, including children, are being killed both in Palestine and Israel.

Children are becoming orphans and parents are losing their children in the war, the premier said.

"We know their pain as we two sisters had become orphans in 1975," she said.

The PM said she and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana were in forced exile for about six years.

"Spending time as refugees, without knowing when we could return to our country, was the most painful. So, we don't want war; rather peace," she said.

'HOLD ISRAEL ACCOUNTABLE'

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday urged United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to hold Israel accountable for charges of war crimes over its ongoing attacks on Palestinian civilians, UN aid workers and health personnel.

Momen, now in Jeddah to join an open-ended extraordinary meeting of the OIC Executive Committee over the ongoing Israeli atrocities in Gaza, asked the OIC to take a lead to arrange a special UN General Assembly meeting on the issue.

"We strongly condemn the barbaric bombing on the Gaza hospital which is totally unacceptable," he said.

Momen also supported a Gambian proposal for convening an international peace conference on this issue.