BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – Belize’s former prime ministers, Said Musa and Dean Barrow, are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying they are “sickened” by the events unfolding in the country where hostilities continue between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
In a joint statement, the two former prime ministers say as the “only two living” former government leaders, they “are sickened by the horrific toll on human life caused by the unspeakable, continuing tragedy in Gaza.
“Hamas’s killing of Israeli civilians and taking others hostage was wrong. But as the United Nations Secretary-General has acknowledged, it did not happen in a vacuum. It is In the context of Israel’s years-long blockade of Gaza, its displacement of Palestinians and seizure of their properties, its arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of citizens in both Gaza and the West Bank, and its destruction of human rights that Hamas’s actions must be understood”.
The two former leaders said that the failure of the United Nations to stop an “ongoing genocide, played out on the world’s media screens as some macabre horror serial show, is profoundly disturbing and could seriously affect its relevance to achieving world peace.
”We join leaders, organizations, and people of conscience everywhere, including the Pope, in calling for an immediate ceasefire,” they added.
The Bar Association of Belize has also issued a release calling for a total ceasefire in Gaza, saying “the immediate, complete and unconditional cessation of bombing and a total ceasefire in Gaza and the facilitation of the establishment of a peaceful process for finally realizing lasting peace in Gaza and the West Bank.”
The lawyers are also calling for the immediate halt to armed attacks on civilians, whether Palestinian or Israeli, the direct provision of an unrestricted flow of water, food, medicine, fuel, and humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and the release of all hostages and prisoners taken in furtherance of the conflict”.
Last weekend, 12 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries voted in favor of a nonbinding resolution calling for a “humanitarian truce” in Gaz.
The 193-member world body adopted the resolution by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions after rejecting a Canadian amendment backed by the United States.
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