BRAZIL RENEWS CALL FOR PALESTINE STATE

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva, in denouncing Israel’s 4-month bombardment and siege of Gaza, called for a Palestinian state to be established during an Arab League gathering on the issue. After meeting in Cairo with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Lula gave these remarks to the 22-member regional organisation.

The Brazilian president urged an end to Israel’s collective punishment of the Palestinian people. He also called for a definitive and immediate ceasefire to allow the flow of humanitarian aid and the release of hostages.

Israel has levelled most of the Gaza Strip’s landscape, killing more than 28,000 people and internally displacing more than 2 million Palestinians in what Israel says are operations to root out H*m*s militants. Tel Aviv claims the militants’ last stronghold is in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where 1.4 million Palestinians are trapped after having been pushed south as Israel bombards the 41-kilometre-long enclave. The Israeli military has vowed to mount a ground invasion of Rafah, which many analysts say will turn the overcrowded city into a mass graveyard.

Lula’s visit to Egypt coincides with the 100th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries; both are now members of the BRICS economic alliance.