The Palestinian Ambassador to Nigeria, Abdallah Abu Shawesh has lashed out at the hypocrisy of Western Powers for paying lip service to the two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Thursday, the Envoy maintained that Western Powers has the capacity and capability to effect an amicable solution but lacks the political will to do.
“The Western countries are just paying lip service with the idea of a two-state solution. They’ve continued to demonstrate unwillingness with their constant support for the genocide Israel is committing in Gaza.”
Speaking on human cost, the Envoy reeled out gory statistics as follows: “the death toll among the Palestinians exceeded 14200 martyrs among them nearly 6000 children, 4000 women, while the toll of injured people exceeded 22,000.”
He also revealed that “nearly 6,000 Palestinians are still missing under the rubbles, while others were killed in the streets with no chance to collect their bodies due to dangerous situation, consequently there has been no opportunity to bury them with the respect they deserve.”
In the Occupied West Bank, “death toll has exceeded 200, particularly in the Huwara village’- that have been subjected manv times to the several brutal attacks by the Terrorist Israeli settlers Gangs.”
The Ambassador further quoted the Euro-Mediterranean Human Right Monito, which said that “Israel dropped more than 25000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip as part of its ongoing large-scale war since October 7th which is equivalent to two nuclear bombs. The destructive power of the explosives dropped on Gaza exceeds what was dropped on Hiroshima, noting that the area of the Japanese city is 900 square kilometers, while the area of the Gaza Strip does not exceed 360 km2.
“Israel uses bombs with huge destructive power, some of which range from 150 to 1000 kilograms, pointing to the statement of Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, that more than 10 thousand bombs were dropped on Gaza City alone, noting that its area is 56 square kilometers.
“In addition, it has been documented that Israel used internationally banned weapons in its attacks on the Gaza Strip, especially cluster bombs and white phosphorus”.
On economic front, the Envoy revealed that, out of 300 economic facilities and shops, only 45 have been permitted to open its doors, the others are sealed by military orders. This means a heavy economic loss to the already fragile Palestinian economy.”
He also explained that, to stifle the Palestinian economy, and add insult to injury, the Israeli government, who are on our behalf, collecting taxes on imported products, given that they have full control over the borders, they withheld the tax money, which led to the Palestinian government’s inability to pay salaries and to the services providers.