Envoy says world unfair to Palestine

MANILA, Philippines — Calling the world “unfair” to the situation of Palestine, Palestinian Ambassador Saleh Mohammad said his country has been crying for 56 years of the occupation of their land.

“On 7th of October, we have seen the world immediately react, Israel has the right to defend itself. We have been crying for 56 years. The world is not perfect. Unfair. And that is why you feel so much anger within you,” Mohammad said in an interview on “The Chiefs” on Oct. 28.

There are about 6,000 Palestinians, he said, who were abducted and detained in Israel.

“They have been imprisoned indefinitely without any fair trial. This is a systematic cleansing of the Palestinian people,” he said.

The ambassador stated that the “international community should stop this standard and start acting fairly toward Palestinians.”

He added that the international community should force Israel to a ceasefire and to sit and negotiate for a political initiative to find a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine.

“Lasting peace is not going to be achieved by erasing Hamas or by destroying Gaza, or by creating a humanitarian crisis or a crime. People are fed up and the anger is accumulating,” Mohammad said.

“So this violence will definitely breed violence. It will not bring peace. They should understand this,” he added.

‘No end in sight’

Israel’s top diplomat in the Philippines, Ambassador Ilan Fluss believes there is no end in sight yet to the Israel-Hamas war as bombardments continue.

In an interview on “The Chiefs” Saturday, Fluss said Israel will continue actions until the entire infrastructure of Hamas is destroyed and hostages, both Israelis and foreign nationals, are rescued and brought home.

“There will be no occupation by Israel of Gaza. There is no plan of occupation of Gaza. Hamas has facilities, and we have to make sure those facilities do not continue to operate,” Fluss said.

Israel’s response against Hamas, he said, is not going to be controlled.

“We are in a war wherein you are still burying the dead because it is so difficult to identify some, so many of the dead, because they were burned, because of what was done, the atrocities done, it is still so difficult,” Fluss said. “So it is still in process of burying, of mourning, at the same time, of fighting and defending ourselves. When this will be over, we can talk about the long term.”

The envoy said it is up to the Palestinians to rebuild the confidence that Israel would not be attacked and is accepted and recognized.

“We did not hear even a word of condemnation from the Palestinian Authority for these terrible terror attacks. Not a word of condemnation,” he added.

He emphasized that the war is against Hamas, which is responsible for the crisis in Gaza.

The ambassador noted that Israel has no plans to take over Gaza.

“Israel has disengaged. Israel has pulled out of Gaza in 2005 to the internationally recognized border. So Gaza was ruled independently by Hamas,” he said.

Citizens of northern Gaza were asked to move to southern Gaza to prevent civilian casualties.

“The responsibility of the government is to protect its civilians and to make sure they run their own safe life. In this case, Hamas has launched a war against Israel. Now it is our responsibility to make sure that Hamas cannot attack us again,” he said.

The UN General Assembly approved a nonbinding resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

The 193-member Assembly adopted the measure by a record vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions, taking action during an emergency session after the Security Council, the UN body tasked with maintaining international peace and security, was unable to reach agreement on three separate resolutions in recent days.