Safadi: The future of Palestine's children must not remain a hostage to Israeli racist policies
Amman3 min read
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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi said on Wednesday that Palestinian children in the West Bank are subjected to all kinds of measures, noting that their lives and dreams remain held hostage.
Safadi, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Federal Cultural Institutions Hadja Lahbib, and the European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič chaired a meeting on the "Call to Action for Palestinian Children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip" initiative, on the sidelines of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
He added that Palestinian children suffer in Israeli prisons without trials or fair trials, saying: "This is the reality that we want to address."
He pointed out that "the massacres have stopped, but the targeted killing has not stopped, the starvation has not stopped, and the denial of the right of Palestinians and Palestinian children to go to the playground and school and enjoy playing has not stopped."
Safadi said that His Majesty King Abdullah II made this clear in his speech before the UN General Assembly, "because we are failing to take action, because we are not taking the measures provided to us by international law in order to stand up and defend our collective humanity and all our values, and to stand against injustice, oppression, and persecution."
He added: "I can tell you stories of dozens and hundreds of Palestinians who are suffering; you all see this on television screens and on mobile phones. These are stories that the world should not be watching; these are tales of misery that must end. We must act and we must take swift action."
Regarding the Gaza Strip, Safadi said that "two million people are trapped in a land with no hope, full of despair," noting that mothers cannot feed their children, and children suffer during cold nights as winter approaches.
He asked: "What kind of life will these people have when the rain starts to fall and the winds start to blow?"
Safadi pointed out that last year a plan by US President Donald Trump to stabilize Gaza was approved, saying: "What we want now is the implementation of this plan."
He stressed that "the future of Palestine's children must not remain a hostage to the Israeli government and its expansionist and racist policies."
He said that "the least that can be done is to allow the aid that is piling up and expiring on shelves in Amman," noting that this aid was provided by various parties.
He added that the United Nations is trying repeatedly to do its job, but it faces great risks that do not allow it to carry out its humanitarian work, stressing that "this is the reality we have to deal with."
