Palestinian ambassador to Malaysia Walid Abu Ali said that his people would prefer to die defending their homeland than becoming refugees in other countries.
“Malaysia will never be a home to Palestinian refugees...
“We ask Malaysia to help us obtain the right to return (to Palestine), we want to live in Palestine and we want to die in Palestine.
“Palestinians will not accept being refugees outside the Palestine borders,” he told reporters at the Palestinian embassy in Kuala Lumpur today.
Walid was responding to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on International Relations and International Trade’s suggestion to Putrajaya to send a team to the Rafah crossing to vet Gaza refugees and bring them to Malaysia.
The bipartisan committee chairperson Wong Chen had said that the committee would discuss the matter with the Foreign Ministry.
Commenting further, Walid said the Palestinians in Malaysia are different from those in the Palestinian territories such as Gaza, the West Bank, or Rafah.
“At the moment, our community in Malaysia are refugees from Syria (and other Arab countries). They were forced to leave those places because of the war that happened there.
“If they were eligible to go back to Palestine, they never would have come to Malaysia because Malaysia is not a member of the Rome Statute and is not a host country for refugees.
“That's why I say, although we greatly appreciate the support given, Malaysia will never be a home for Palestinian refugees,” he said.
The former Pakatan Harapan government, led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, had withdrawn from the Rome Statute in 2019.
Malaysia had signed the Instrument of Accession to the Rome Statute just months prior.
Walid cited Nakba, also known as the 'Palestinian catastrophe', which saw the permanent displacement of 700,000 Palestinians in 1948, leading to the creation of Israel.
This caused Palestine to be divided into the West Bank and the Gaza peninsula as seen today.
"We suffered in 1948 by being refugees, we suffered again in 1967; the Palestinian people, whether in Gaza, in the West Bank, or in Jerusalem, will not accept to be refugees again," he said.
He emphasised, however, that Malaysia was able to play a pivotal role in the international community, especially among Asean countries, to call for an immediate end to the suffering and massacre of the Palestinian people.
"We need all efforts to stop Israel from staging terrorism against our people," he added. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.