Bangladesh is in favour of permanent sovereignty for Palestine, including occupied land and East Jerusalem as the capital, MP Kazi Nabil Ahmed has said.
Kazi Nabil, a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, highlighted Bangladesh’s position on Palestine in a statement at a meeting of the United Nations’ Second Committee (Economic and Financial) on Monday.
According to the statement, the 2030 Global Development Agenda aims to ensure sustainable development for all. Special emphasis has been placed on ensuring that no one is left behind. However, for more than 50 years, the land and property of the Palestinian people have remained under occupation.
Palestinians in occupied territory are denied basic human rights, as revealed in a study by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).
Associating himself with the Group of 77, Kazi Nabil noted that poverty and food insecurity in Palestine affect 53% and 64.4% of the Palestinian population, respectively. Gaza’s socioeconomic fabric is faltering due to 15 years of sea, land and air blockade, as well as restricted trade and access to resources.
“The international community has a responsibility to ensure that the Palestinian people and the Arab population of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights can benefit from their natural resources and claim restitution for the harms already caused by the occupying power,” the lawmaker said in his statement.
He noted there has also been a sharp decline in the volume of foreign aid to Palestine in past years, as the World Bank estimates that the Palestinian economy annually loses nearly $3.4 billion of potential revenue due to Israel’s restrictions. There is an urgent need to scale up cash transfers, food aid, and project grants targeting poverty alleviation, education, women’s empowerment and health care.
Tarik Alami, director of the Emerging and Conflict‑Related Issues Division of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), introduced the Secretary‑General’s note on the “Economic and social repercussions of the Israeli occupation on the living conditions of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan”.
He said that Israel has escalated its use of force against the Palestinians, including illegal unwarranted force, amounting to arbitrary deprivation of life.
The observer for the State of Palestine noted that over two million Palestinians living in Gaza continue to suffer from the illegal blockade, deepening poverty and unemployment. He noted that Israel continues to allow “terrorist settlers” to kill her people in plain sight, destroying their homes and attacking their agricultural land, fruit and olive trees.
Representatives of Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Qatar, South Africa, Namibia, Kuwait, Cuba, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq (in national capacity), Russian Federation, Indonesia, Egypt, Venezuela, Oman, Algeria and Libya also spoke at the meeting.
The Committee will meet again on October 25 to conclude Monday's agenda item and meet with regional commissions of the United Nations system for the annual dialogue.