{"id":114323,"date":"2021-05-17T16:10:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T23:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=114323"},"modified":"2021-05-17T16:10:03","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T23:10:03","slug":"prime-minister-mahinda-rajapaksas-statement-on-the-latest-outbreak-of-hostilities-within-the-israeli-palestinian-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/05\/17\/prime-minister-mahinda-rajapaksas-statement-on-the-latest-outbreak-of-hostilities-within-the-israeli-palestinian-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s Statement on the Latest Outbreak of Hostilities within the Israeli-Palestinian Region"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><strong>Prime Minister\u2019s Media Unit<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<p>I am deeply concerned about the latest outbreak of\nhostilities within the Israeli-Palestinian region, which has already caused\nuntold suffering for the people on both sides of the conflict. Apart from\ncausing much harm and misery to the people living within the territories\nconcerned, including the deaths of many children, this is a conflict that has\nthe potential to spill over into the neighbouring region, thus igniting a\nconflagration that would have catastrophic consequences for the entire world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The creation of the question of the Palestinian people\nwas a direct consequence of colonialism and the fact that the people of this\nregion had no control over their own destinies when the seeds were sown for the\nconflict that we experience today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause and\nthe Founder President of the Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine,\nI have always held the position that the Palestinian people\u2019s legitimate right\nto statehood must be upheld. The preservation of the rights of the people is\nimportant for the assertion of their identity as a distinct people. For a\ndurable solution to the Palestine question, it is imperative to recognize the\nlegitimate and sensitive security concerns of both the Palestinian and Israeli\npeoples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sri Lanka stands by its position that it is only by the\npeoples of Israel and Palestine living side- by-side in peace, security and\nmutual recognition, with all matters resolved permanently through negotiations,\nthat the legitimate aspirations of both parties and sustainable peace can be\nachieved \u2013 a truism highlighted by the latest outbreak of hostilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is my sincere belief that the Israeli-Palestinian\nregion is Holy Land that is sacred to people of\nmany faiths from around the world, in fact to all of humanity. As such,\nI earnestly urge both sides to show\nrestraint and de-escalate hostilities and commence negotiations for a\nceasefire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister\u2019s Media Unit I am deeply concerned about the latest outbreak of hostilities within the Israeli-Palestinian region, which has already caused untold suffering for the people on both sides of the conflict. Apart from causing much harm and misery to the people living within the territories concerned, including the deaths of many children, this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-114323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mahinda-rajapaksa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}