THE continued human killings going on in West Bank along Gaza strip
between Israelis and Palestinians has greatly angered Tanzania despite of the
call earlier issued by the government requesting the two warring groups to
ceasefire. A statement issued yesterday in Dar es Salaam by the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation has called on the on Israel and
the Hamas group of Palestinians to ceasefire immediately. According to the
statement, Tanzania government has reiterated its stand over the fight by
strongly condemning the ongoing killings of innocent civilians in the region among
them elderly, women and Children. Tanzania government has called upon the
International Community to continue supporting diplomatic efforts to end the
conflict peacefully, reads part of the statement a copy of which was made
available to the Guardian Limited. The statement is further quoted as saying
that, the core to the solution of this conflict is availing the people of
Palestine the right to self-determination through the establishment of an
independent Palestinian state.
The government therefore maintains its support
to the two-state solution with Palestine and Israel co-existing in harmony and
ensuring security of the State of Israel. The mounting of the international
pressure for a ceasefire has come amid continuing violence in Gaza strip as Israeli
troops continues to harass Palestinians and hit Gaza city, and the south and
centre of the coastal enclave, home to 1.8 million people. Currently the Palestinians
are mourning for their dead relatives. Meanwhile
Israel’s diplomatic engagement with Africa has been turbulent. Israel
established diplomatic ties with newly-independent African nations as they
gained independence by the early 1970s, Israel had formal diplomatic relations
with 33 nations. However,
at the end of the Arab-Israeli war in 1973, several countries in sub-Saharan
Africa severed ties with Israel. Egypt also sponsored a resolution that called
for the ending of relations with Israel through the Organisation of African
Unity (OAU), the precursor to the African Union (AU). By the 1980s, diplomatic relations between Africa and Israel
began to improve again with 40 African countries maintaining formal ties with
Israel by the 1990s. But in this time, many countries had also established
formal ties with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). Thus, in the contemporary situation, most African countries
recognise the diplomatic and economic benefits of relations with Israel while
continuing to express support for Palestinian self-determination.
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