Palestinians' rights must be recognised - Karu Jayasuriya

by Ananda KANNANGARA

UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya on Thursday valued the importance of recognising the rights of Palestinians and said that Israel must extend its full co-operation towards achieving this objective.

He was speaking at the opening of the Palestine Photo Exhibition, organised by the Sri Lanka Committee for Palestinian Solidarity.

The UNP Deputy Leader also mentioned that Palestinian people deserve the goodwill of all nations as they have suffered for over 60 years and said that when Sri Lanka won the independence in 1948, the Palestinians lost theirs.

Israel must recognise the rights of the Palestinian people to live in their own land under their own rules.

"Over the years we have seen the mass destruction, killings, bombings, loss of limbs and destruction of property of Palestinian people," he said. He also quoted the victorious struggle of Nelson Mandela against apartheid and the struggle of Aung San Su Kyi in Myanmar and said tyranny will eventually crumble due to the collective desire of people to be free.

He thanked the former Minister Imtiaz Bakeer Markar for creating awareness programmes in this regard and said recent peace talks initiated by the US do not show any signs of progress and stressed that Israel must recognise the rights of the Palestinian people.