The South African Government has expressed grave concern over the recent devastating escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while called for a just and comprehensive peace between the two countries.
In a statement released by government on Monday said United Nations resolutions and international law matter, adding that international community can not avoid its duty to act, and together, must shoulder the responsibility to remove obstacles to peace and any violations of international law.
The Israeli Government has declared war on the Palestinian militant group Hamas after it carried out an unprecedented attack by air, sea and land on Saturday with large-scale surprise assault which left at least 900 dead in Israel.
This prompted a lethal volley of retaliatory Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that killed at least 687 people, retreating into Gaza, the militants claimed to have taken at least 100 hostages with them and threatened to kill them if airstrikes target Gaza without warning.
South Africa said the new conflagration has arisen from the continued illegal occupation of Palestine land, continued settlement expansion, desecration of the Al Aqsa mosque and Christian holy sites, and ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people.
It added that the region is in desperate need of a credible peace process that delivers on the calls of a plethora of previous UN resolutions for a two-state solution and a just and comprehensive peace between Israel and Palestine.
South Africa, who is working together with the international community, seeked to ensure lasting and durable peace that produces a viable, contiguous Palestinian State, existing side-by-side in peace with Israel, within the 1967 internationally recognised borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
It said, “Violence, killings, imprisonment, forced removals, illegal settlements, and the continued siege of Gaza are not conducive to resolving conflict. Urgent attention must be given to resolving the final status issues such as borders, the status of Jerusalem, the release of political prisoners, and the right of return.
“No real and lasting peace in Israel, Palestine, and the region is possible in the absence of just comprehensive resolution of the conflict. Israelis, Palestinians, the region do not stand to gain anything from escalated tensions, increased violence, growing instability, and a continued and protracted violent conflict”.
It therefore call on both countries to seize the opportunity for peace as opposed to violence, and for the international community to actively rise on side of its own International resolutions and establish a credible peace process.
Reiterated that South Africa stands ready to share its experience in mediation and conflict resolution as it has done on the continent and around the world.
Meanwhile, multiple airlines have canceled flights in and out of Tel Aviv, home to Israel’s largest international airport, after Israel formally declared war on Hamas in a statement released to Pressmen on Monday.
American Airlines said it was suspending flights until Friday as it closely monitors the situation on the ground, while the cancellations follow on the heels of a “do not fly” order from the President of the Allied Pilots Association, the union representing 15,000 American Airlines pilots.
In a note on Sunday, Ed Sicher said that because Israel has declared that it is now at war, “it is not prudent or appropriate to knowingly put our flight crews and passengers in harm’s way by maintaining flights into a war zone.”
He cautioned pilots to refuse any assignment into Israel and added that Federal Aviation Administration has issued a notice to air personnel urging “extreme caution.”