KUALA LUMPUR: The proposed peace treaty which United States president Donald Trump declared as “the Deal of the Century” is just another form of oppression against the Palestinian people packaged under another name.
Organising committee advisor of the Third Conference of the League of “Parliamentarians for Al-Quds” Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution likened the Israel-Palestine peace deal to “a robber taking away a victim’s belongings, giving a few crumbs back and then claiming that they had made amends.”
Saifuddin, who is also Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, said there can be no deal when it is just one side imposing its will on the other.
“Many of us here came from countries that were once colonised.
“Independence is not about what the colonial rulers were willing to give us. It is about us realising our aspirations and our desire to build dignified and sovereign nations.
“This is the right of all human beings, and the same right should be extended to the Palestinians,” said Saifuddin during the opening ceremony of the League’s two-day conference here, today.
Trump had announced the proposal for Israeli-Palestinian peace at the White House on Jan 28.
The plan involves Israel stopping new settlement activities for four years, having a four-year timeline for Palestinians to agree to a security arrangement with Israel, halting attacks by Islamist militant group Hamas, and setting up governing institutions in order to establish a Palestinian State.
The capital of this new State would be in Abu Dis, a West Bank village just east of the municipal borders of Jerusalem.
The struggle of Palestinians, said Saifuddin, is close to the heart of leaders and people in Malaysia.
“This is because the oppression they experience is simply repugnant and unacceptable to anyone and everyone with a conscience.
“It violates all standards of decency. When Palestinians rise up and fight against the Zionist occupation, they are doing what most of us would do if we were subjected to the same treatment,” he said.
On the conference, Saifuddin said it will serve as an important platform for the League to deliberate on how to help the Palestinian cause.
“Let it not be forgotten that many of us here stood together when we protested against apartheid rule in South Africa, while some nations continued to be sympathetic towards the apartheid regime and pursued a policy of ‘constructive engagement,’ ignoring the destructive effects of apartheid rule.
“The fight against apartheid was not easy but in the end, apartheid rule was brought down, and all South Africans could decide their own destiny,” he added.