UNITED NATIONS (CMC) — Guyana has reiterated its call for a ceasefire in Gaza as well as the release of all hostages and detainees held in both Gaza and Israel.

Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister, Hugh Hilton Todd, addressing the United Nations (UN) Security Council meeting on “The situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question” also called for unimpeded humanitarian access into Gaza and for “Israel to cease all its actions that are dismantling the two-state solution and the possibility of peace in the Middle East region”.

Todd told the Security Council that the protracted Israeli aggression against Palestine cannot continue to be a defining feature of politics in the Middle East.

He said in recent times, the aggression has extended to other countries in the region, heightening instability and insecurity, driving Israel poles away from its neighbours, and undermining good neighbourliness.

“The ongoing war in Gaza has itself become a catalyst of pain and pressure. Pain for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are the targets of Israel’s instruments of war — starvation, bombs, bullets, displacement, dispossession and other cruelties solely intended to subjugate the Palestinian nation.

“We have seen, for example, how famine unfolded in Gaza in full view of the international community, and one hundred and ninety-two countries could not stop it.”

Todd said that the war in Gaza has also become a catalyst for political pressure “which seems to be the only way that the occupying power might respond to the international outcry against the genocidal acts being perpetrated against Palestinians”.

“Guyana calls on the member states of the United Nations to ensure that their engagements with the State of Israel do not in any way contribute to prolonging the war in Gaza and the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people.”

Todd said that it took a collective effort to dismantle the system of apartheid in South Africa and Guyana firmly believes that an equally strong and organised international response is needed to ensure the end of the occupation of the Palestinian territory.

“I must underscore the importance of recognition of the State of Palestine by all United Nations member states as a pivotal part of forcing an end to the Israeli occupation. Recognition lends greater strength to international efforts to end the occupation and to achieve an independent Palestine.”

He said that on the question of the occupation, more than one year ago, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its advisory opinion confirming that Israel’s prolonged occupation of the Palestinian territory is illegal under international law and must be brought to an end.

Todd said that the United Nations General Assembly later demanded that Israel end its occupation within a year, by September 18 this year, and “that date has now passed without compliance on Israel’s part”.

“On the contrary, we have instead witnessed a series of developments that only entrench the occupation further and destroy the two-state solution. Guyana calls on Israel to respect the Charter of the United Nations; to abide by the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council and other organs of the United Nations; to cease its contempt of international law; and to commit to true peace in the Middle East.”

Todd said that the occupation of the Palestinian territory and the attendant ills are a historic tragedy of proportions that should shock the human conscience across the globe.

“Sadly, however, what we are witnessing is an ‘othering’ of the Palestinian people that makes it difficult for some to see the Palestinian people as they see their own people. We must all reject this ‘othering’ and fight for the rights of the Palestinian people as we would fight for the rights of our own people.”

The Guyana foreign affairs minister said that the right-minded, the peace-loving, and the promoters of justice “must continue to defend the Palestinian people and oppose all attempts to erase them from their homeland”.

Todd further reaffirmed Guyana’s continued commitment to the two-state solution and by “underscoring our conviction that the rule of law will ultimately prevail in this decades-long question as long as all member states choose to be guided by the principles of the charter”.