Former Prime Ministers Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza
Belize’s former prime ministers, Said Musa and Dean Barrow, are calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. A joint press release states, “We, the only two living former Prime Ministers of Belize, are sickened by the horrific toll in 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 annihilation of human rights, that Hamas’s actions must be understood”. The release went on to say, “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”. The Bar Association of Belize has also issued a release calling for a total ceasefire in Gaza.
The association says it unequivocally calls for, “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 immediate halt to armed attacks on civilians whether Palestinian or Israeli, the immediate 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”. Reports are that at least eight thousand Palestinian men women and children have been killed since October seventh. A total of fourteen hundred Israeli men, women and children have also lost their lives.
