A strong and articulated appeal for peace, respect for international law and the recognition of the state of Palestine arrives in the Regional Council of Calabria with the motion presented by the Democratic Party group, composed of Mimmo Bevacqua, Amalia Bruni, Ernesto Alecci, Raffaele Mammoliti, Giovanni Muraca and Franco Iacucciand by the regional councilor of the 5 Star Movement, Davide Tavernise. A political initiative that intervenes on a conflict that has been blood on the Middle East for months, placing Calabria in a clear position compared to the current genocide in Gaza and the West Bank.
In the premise of the motion, the firm condemnation of the horrible terrorist attack made by Hamas on 7 October 2023 is reiterated. But the alarm is equally clear for what happened after: the Israeli military operations caused – according to the data mentioned – about 60 thousand victims, of which over 16 thousand children, and the incessant bombing forced the Palestinian population to forced massacres of mass. The almost total block of humanitarian aid has also aggravated the crisis, bringing millions of civilians to hunger and the lack of medical care, in full violation of international law.
The motion also denounces “the policies of the Netanyahu government, which not only continued in the indiscriminate bombings, but authorized the creation of 22 new settlements in the West Bank, legalizing outposts already considered illegitimate. A policy that, according to the proposers, represents a further step towards the denial of the perspective of the two states and the right of the Palestinians to a sovereign state”.
The historic resolution of the UN General Assembly of 9 May 2024 is remembered, which recognized Palestine as “qualified to become a full member of the United Nations” (143 votes in favor, 9 against and 25 abstentions, including Italy). A passage that has already found concrete followers in the official recognition of the Palestinian state by Spain, Ireland and Norway and that France has also announced that it wants to support by 2025.
For the signatories of the motion, our country – who already in 2015, with a parliamentary motion, had made the commitment to recognize the Palestinian state – can no longer remain indifferent. A clear position is needed to help relaunch the perspective of the “two peoples, two states” as the only credible path to guarantee peace and mutual security.
The motion also recalls the importance of the procedure started at the International Court of Justice for violation of the Convention on the genocide and arrest mandates issued by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Israeli and Hamas exponents. The signatories openly criticize the recent declarations of the Italian government, which have questioned the work of the Court and its competences, instead underlining the need to defend the principle according to which international law must be worth for everyone, without exception.
The motion commits the Calabrian regional council to: support the immediate recognition of the state of Palestine, within 1967 and with shared capital with Jerusalem; promote a common position in the European office for the recognition of Palestine and the relaunch of the peace process; demand the immediate respect of the ceasefire, the liberation of Israeli hostages, the protection of civilians, free access to humanitarian aid and respect for the rules of international humanitarian law; support the Arab plan for the reconstruction and administration of Gaza, rejecting any hypothesis of expulsion of the Palestinian population; immediately suspend the supplies of weapons in Israel, promoting a European embargo on the sale and import of armaments; support the introduction of sanctions against the Israeli government and the settlers responsible for violence in the West Bank; give full implementation to the arrest mandates of the International Criminal Court and defend their role in international locations.