In his parliamentary address today (20), Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa condemned the loss of life in Israel and Palestine and criticized superpowers’ ongoing prioritization of military security-oriented policies. He emphasized that it’s time for these superpowers to shift their focus towards prioritizing the lives of human beings over military concerns, and he reiterated his support for the Palestinian state and the two-state solution as part of this approach to promote peace and human well-being.
Complete text of the speech given below
Honourable deputy speaker I want to take this opportunity to vehemently condemn the atrocities and the colossal loss of human lives, especially the mayhem and the death that is caused by indiscriminate attacks, attacks that are aimed at children, attacks aimed at women, attacks aimed at mothers, attacks aimed at civilians, we condemn without reservation these attacks which are crude and blatant violations of human rights.
We urge all parties to this conflict to throw away their arms and convert swords into ploughshares. Get rid of your arms and come to the negotiating table to talk peace, talk about how these nation-states can coexist side by side. Talk in a manner you all can coexist, cohabitate, and enhance the principles of brotherhood, justice, fairness, and respect for each other’s religions, cultures and religious institutions. The world has failed to provide a progressive constructive solution to this grave crisis.
The 1948 war, the Suez war in ’56, the six-day war, … war and the ensuing conflict during the latter part of ‘70s and there on has promoted violence, caused death mayhem immense amount of human damage, and physical damage; unfortunately, the Middle East problem is persisting and continuing because of the power struggle that exists in the international community. We urge the permanent members of the United Nation’s Security Council, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, and France to go beyond the various ideological conflicts, the disagreements, the mismatches that you may have, think of the mothers, think of the children, think of the civilian population that are grievously impacted by this unnecessary conflict.
We need leadership it’s useless calling yourselves superpowers it is time for the superpowers to act in the name of humanity, we need human qualities, we need humanitarianism, we need Justice for the Palestinians, and we stand for the Palestinian state, the two states solution is the only formula, persistently reaffirmed through UN resolution 242338, Oslo accords, Abraham accords and so many agreements why can’t the protagonists, and the world leaders who had the power to promote peace at the expense of conflict. Look at the humongous amounts of money that are spent on armaments on weapons that smooch of money is wasted in Ukraine, and Russia war so much money is wasted on armaments in Israel, and Palestinian conflicts, how about ensuring peace, and tranquillity, peaceful coexistence amongst the nation states of this country, and transfer those weapons that are results of the various military-industrial complexes that exist throughout the world transfer those funds to the livability of those people, transfer those funds for health, education, youth empowerment, the wealth generation to promote growth for all.
I think it is time we moved away from prioritizing military security-oriented policies, it is high time we thought about prioritizing human beings. So I once again urge everyone in the international community and also to Sri Lankan government to take the steps necessary to make sure that this very dangerous conflict may flare up into a world war that we don’t know. I certainly hope that would not take place but this conflictive situation has to be controlled and managed and we have to take all measures to ensure that there is a peaceful resolution, a specific resolution to this grave conflict that is certainly a threat to international peace and security.
Thank you
