Tunisia and Palestine call for an end to Israeli attacks in Gaza and the West Bank
Tunisian Foreign Minister Mohamed Nafati and his Palestinian counterpart, Farees Agapikian Shahin, called on Wednesday for intensified Arab and international efforts to end Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. The call came during a meeting between the two ministers on the sidelines of their participation in the sessions of the Arab Ministerial Committee tasked with mobilizing international action for Jerusalem, held in the Jordanian capital, Amman.
The Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in a press release that the meeting between Nafati and Shahin addressed recent developments in the occupied Palestinian territories, particularly in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The two ministers emphasized the necessity of ramping up Arab and international mobilization to halt the escalation, protect civilians, and put an end to the continuous Israeli violations.
On October 8, 2023, Israel, with U.S. support, launched a genocidal war in Gaza, resulting in more than 73,000 Palestinian deaths and over 174,000 injuries, most of them children and women, and causing destruction that affected 90 percent of the infrastructure.
Simultaneously, the Israeli army and settlers have intensified their attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, leading to the deaths of more than 1,182 Palestinians and injuring approximately 13,000, according to official Palestinian data. Additionally, nearly 24,000 have been arrested.
Nafati and Shahin also stressed the importance of concerted efforts to reach a solution that restores the stolen rights of the Palestinian people. They emphasized the need to continue coordination within the framework of the Arab Ministerial Committee tasked with mobilizing international action for Jerusalem, and to enhance joint efforts to rally international support for the Palestinian cause and safeguard the status of al-Quds al-Sharif (Jerusalem).
Palestinians state that Israel has been intensifying its crimes for decades to Judaize East Jerusalem, including Al-Aqsa Mosque, and erase its Arab and Islamic identity. They insist on East Jerusalem as the capital of their desired state, based on international legitimacy resolutions that do not recognize Israel’s occupation of the city in 1967 or its annexation in 1980.
Nafati expressed his country’s readiness to intensify bilateral cooperation with Palestine, particularly in artistic, educational, and student fields. The Palestinian people are suffering from a severe deterioration across all sectors, especially education and health, as a result of the Israeli occupation.
In 1948, Israel was established on lands occupied by armed Zionist gangs that committed massacres and displaced no fewer than 750,000 Palestinians. Tel Aviv refuses to withdraw from these territories and to establish the Palestinian state mandated by UN resolutions.
