Draft Resolution submitted by AKEL denouncing Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinians

 

The AKEL Left New Forces Parliamentary Group has since last week tabled a Draft Resolution on Palestine denouncing Israel’s ongoing invasion in the Gaza Strip which has turned into genocide against the Palestinian people.

The text of the Resolution reads as follows:

Draft resolution on Palestine

(Tabled by the AKEL-Left-New Forces Parliamentary Group)

(For adoption at the Thursday plenary session of the House of Representatives 4 April 2024)

 

The House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus,

Having regard to all the resolutions of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee/Council on the Middle East and the Palestinian issue, the relevant reports of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as well as the Opinion of the International Court of Justice in The Hague of 9th July 2004,

Having regard to the Conclusions of the European Union Council on the Middle East Peace Process of 18^th January 2016 on the EU’s commitment to “a two-state solution that meets the security needs of Israelis and Palestinians and the aspirations of Palestinians for the establishment of a state and sovereignty, ends the occupation that began in 1967 and resolves all permanent status issues in order to put an end to the conflict”,

Having regard to the Interim Judgment of the International Court of Justice of 26th January 2024 and the Update of 28th March 2024 on the appeal of South Africa,

Having regard to the recent statements by the Secretary General of the UN on the situation in the Middle East,

Having regard to Resolution of the Security Council of the UN 2728 (2024) of 25th March 2024,

Having regard to the statement of 19th March 2024 by the UN High Representative for Human Rights on the ongoing famine in Gaza,

Decides as follows:

1. Unequivocally denounces the ongoing incursion by the State of Israel into the Gaza Strip, which has become a genocide being committed against the Palestinian people and has so far resulted in the death of more than thirty-two thousand people, the overwhelming majority of whom are children and women, and the injury of more than eighty thousand people.
2. Calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as well as an end to the extremist violence being waged by settlers and the attacks launched by the Israeli armed forces against Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It also calls on the State of Israel not to proceed with an attack on Rafah, which would multiply the casualties and the humanitarian crisis.
3. Denounces the State of Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war by deliberately depriving the population of Gaza of access to food, water, medicine and humanitarian aid, in violation of international law, the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute.
4. Demands from Israel that it ends the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip and allow, in cooperation with the UN, free and unhindered access to humanitarian aid from all crossing points using all available corridors to and within the entire Gaza Strip. It calls for the implementation of the ICJ orders of 26 January 2024, including “immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed essential services and humanitarian assistance”.
5. Calls for the immediate release of all Israeli citizens held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and all Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons.
6. Underlines UNRWA’s irreplaceable role in providing vital assistance to the people of Gaza and rejects any action to cut off or downgrade its funding.
7. Welcomes the willingness of the Republic of Cyprus to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, while stressing that the transfer of humanitarian aid by sea or air cannot be a substitute for land transport of humanitarian assistance. Calls on the Government of the Republic of Cyprus to include UNRWA in the key parts of the operational planning for the implementation of the humanitarian maritime corridor and to take seriously the positions of the Palestinian Authority on the issue of humanitarian assistance.
8. Condemns the most recent case of cold-blooded murder of seven volunteers of the non-governmental organisation “World Central Kitchen” in the line of duty, an act that came in the wake of a similar murderous acts that resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians, including nearly 200 UNRWA workers, approximately 100 journalists, ambulance crews, medical and paramedical personnel.
9. Notes that the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention includes the obligation of states to refrain from complicity in genocide and calls on the EU and its member states to immediately impose an arms embargo on the State of Israel and targeted sanctions on Israeli persons and entities responsible for violations of international law and international humanitarian law.
10. Calls for the immediate suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which establishes respect for human rights as a fundamental element of the provisions of the Agreement and of the EU and its member states’ relations with the State of Israel as a whole.
11. Declares its opposition to any use of the territory of the British bases in Cyprus for any involvement in the war in Gaza and for indirect or direct facilitation of Israeli military operations.
12. Expresses its solidarity with all the peoples and political forces on both sides fighting for human rights, democracy, equality and peace, and with all those who defend them across the world; expresses its solidarity with the political and social forces in Israel who are calling for a ceasefire and an end to the occupation.
13. Furthermore it expresses its concern about the increase in anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and anti-Arab speeches, rallies and attacks against the Jewish, Muslim and Arab population in Europe and calls on the Republic of Cyprus and the European Union to protect their citizens from all forms of racist violence and discrimination, including both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia; denounces the persecution and banning of organisations and symbols of solidarity with the Palestinian people; reiterates that the glorification of violence and war crimes, as well as calls for the destruction of Palestine or Israel are totally unacceptable.
14. Stresses that the Palestinian and Israeli people have the right to live in peace and security and that the vicious cycle of blood and violence in Israel and Palestine can be broken by ending the Israeli occupation and colonalisation in the Palestinian territories and by implementing a two state solution, on the basis of the resolutions of the UN, which provide for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the borders with Israel of 4th June 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, coexisting peacefully with the State of Israel.
15. It recalls that Cyprus, itself a victim of the continued occupation, colonalisation and violation of International Law by Turkey, defends International Law and the resolutions of the Security Council of the UN for the solution of outstanding international issues and calls on the Government of the Republic of Cyprus to denounce the crimes committed by Israel in Gaza, to demand an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire and to reaffirm its commitment to the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council for the solution of the Middle East conflict.