São Paulo – This Tuesday (15) morning, a ceremony was held in Palestine’s embassy, in Brasília, to remember the 70th anniversary of Al-Nakba, or “The Catastrophe”, in Arabic, as the events that unfolded on May 14, 1948, when over 700,000 Palestinians were banished or fled their lands after the establishment of the state of Israel, officially announced one day before, are called by Palestinians.
Qatar’s ambassador in Brasília, Mohammed Al-Hayki, spoke on the behalf of the Arab League, as the vice dean of the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Brasil, since the dean, Palestine’s ambassador Ibrahim Alzeben, is away.
According to information by the press office of Qatar’s embassy, attended the event representatives of the diplomatic community in Brasília (picture above), such as other Arab ambassadors, the director of the Middle East Department and the undersecretary general for Africa and the Middle East of Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty), Ligia Maria Scherer and Fernando Abreu, respectively, plus members of the Palestine Arab Society in Brasília. Brazil recognizes Palestine as an independent state.
The ceremony took place one day after 60 Palestinians were killed by Israeli armed forces during a protest held at the border of the Gaza Strip and Israel, while Israeli and US authorities were attending the opening of the new US embassy, transferred from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Al-Hayki deplored and condemned the violence, calling it a “terrible massacre”. “The Palestine Cause is not just a political cause. It’s a humanitarian and ethical cause that demands the union of all efforts, aiming to resume the international agreements and resolutions regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as capital,” said the Qatari diplomat in a speech. “I must mention our thanks to the Federative Republic of Brazil and to the Brazilian people, our friends, for their positions supporting the Palestine Cause in the many world forums,” he added.
In a statement released this Monday (14), the Brazilian government expressed “great concern with the increase in violence at the Gaza Strip.” “In expressing condolences to the families of the victims and hope for the full recovery of the wounded, the Brazilian government calls the parts to moderation and urges Israel to respect the full compliance to the international law and the humanitarian international law,” stated Itamaraty.
In a press release, ambassador Alzeben said that this “is a moment of sadness, of mourning for the dozens of Palestinians murdered by the Israeli army.” “This is also a moment of resistance, of saying that the Palestinian people won’t abandon its rights. We ask for a pacific solution and not a military one, based on the international law, to create an independent Palestinian state, with Easter Jerusalem as the capital. We want the fulfillment of the UN resolutions, which have been waiting 70 years to be implemented,” he pointed out.
After the event, an olive tree was planted in the garden of Palestine’s embassy.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
