The Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prévot (committed) said Friday that he has summoned the Israel ambassador to Belgium, Idit Rosenzweig-Abu, after the announcement of the Israeli government’s project to occupy the city of Gaza. The Belgian Minister indicates that he wanted to “testify to our total disapproval of this decision, but also as to the continuation of Israeli colonization in the Palestinian territories. It is now a question of “vigorously pleading for a reverse march of these inclinations”, he adds in a declaration sent to the Belga agency.
In recent days, the proposal of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to opt for a total occupation of the Gaza Strip, including the City of Gaza and the refugee camps located in the center of the territory, has generated fears and disapproval on the side of the Israeli opposition, families of hostages still in the hands of Hamas and largely of the international community. During the night of Thursday to Friday, and despite the opposite opinion of the Israeli army chief, the Israeli security firm approved this option.
The UN was quick to react: this plan “must be immediately stopped”, launched the High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
An opinion shared by the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, whose cabinet sent a brief declaration on Friday. He talks about a series of “inadmissible” and “contrary to international law” acts.
“Following the official confirmation by the Israeli government of its desire to surround and then occupy the city of Gaza and take military control from the entire Gaza Strip, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prévot decided to convene the Israel ambassador. The objective is clearly to testify to our total disapproval of this decision, but also as to the continuation of colonization, in particular the resumption of the E1 project in the east of Jerusalem, and the will to annexing the West Bank recently promoted by the Knesset. So many cumulative acts likely to potentially scratch Palestine from the card, which are inadmissible and contrary to international law, the resolutions of the United Nations and the decisions of the International Court of Justice, “he said.
“It will be a question of vigorously pleading for a reverse march of these inclinations which would be likely to definitively compromise any prospect of ceasefire and a peaceful and sustainable solution to two states for which Belgium has been insisting for months, without omitting total terrestrial free access for humanitarian aid,” continues the Minister. “If it is legitimate to want to destroy the Hamas terrorist group, this cannot be done through disproportionate operations which will extend even more the already very and too long list of Palestinian civilian victims. »»
