Not a single word has been heard from the Government and the other political parties criticising Israel’s crimes in Palestine
Statement by AKEL Parliamentary Representative Giorgos Loukaides after the meeting of the Parliamentary n Foreign and European Affairs Committee
14 November 2023
I would like to thank the Ambassador of the Palestinian State in our country for his presence here in the Parliamentary Foreign and European Affairs Committee. As AKEL, we had the opportunity to reiterate our well-known positions on the situation as it is developing in Gaza.
The facts are very simple and very tragic at the same time.
We are dealing with an ongoing occupation for 75 years.
We are talking about an ongoing process of ethnic cleansing and genocide which, as we speak, is taking place in Gaza.
We are dealing with the systematic violation of human rights and the imposition of an apartheid regime by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people.
We are dealing with the murder of innocent children, women and civilians.
We are talking about 70% of those murdered in Gaza being children and women, according to the figures released by the United Nations.
We are dealing with the organised, deliberate and targeted bombings of hospitals, schools, Orthodox churches, mosques, the Orthodox Cultural Centre, entire populated areas by the State of Israel, which are continuing as we speak.
We are dealing with the ongoing siege that is depriving 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza of water, food, medicine, electricity and fuel.
Certain forces and circles in the world, but unfortunately also the overwhelming majority of the political forces and the government in our country, a country that is still under occupation, that is suffering from the colonisation of the occupied territories, that is facing similar dangers from the occupying power Turkey, don’t feel like saying not a single word of condemnation, not a single word of criticism of the crimes that the State of Israel is committing against the Palestinian people as we speak and for more than a month now.
Not a single word of criticism.
We hear President Macron say, belatedly, that the State of Israel is violating international law and international humanitarian law, voting for an immediate ceasefire, along with seven other European countries, so that humanitarian aid can be provided. Here in our country, neither the government, nor the political forces other than AKEL have done either.
Nor has anything been said within the Committee in any way, at any volume or tone, that contains an element of criticism of Israel.
We wonder, is it possible to talk about humanitarian corridors and not have the humanity to call for an end to the ongoing ethnic cleansing, for an end to the genocide?
Is it possible to talk about humanitarian corridors and not to demand an immediate ceasefire?
Is it possible not to be disturbed by the killing of civilians, women and children, which amounts to 70% of those killed by the State of Israel in Palestine, and not to utter a single word of condemnation of all that is unfolding before our eyes?
Since I have also heard the statements of the Palestinian Ambassador, my appeal to all of you media representatives is to ask them: Are they not disturbed?
If they are disturbed by what they see, can they at least say a word of criticism?
Can they describe the behaviour of the State of Israel as unacceptable?
Not to condemn it, which logic says that what the State of Israel is committing as we speak should be completely reprehensible.
Ask them if they are in favour of an immediate ceasefire so that the humanitarian corridor can operate, besides any other technical problems that exist and have been said by Mr. Mitsotakis and other EU officials too.
We asked the Committee last week, and I am asking again today: Can all those in Cyprus and internationally who remain silent and are actually complicit in the crimes being committed by the State of Israel sleep at night?
