At the official opening of the 147th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the President said: “It will not be cannons that will bring final peace to the Middle East, but diplomacy.”
He added that the will and ability of the world, particularly the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, to implement their own resolutions will be the only thing that can silence the guns.
Lourenço said that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, world leaders have made diplomatic efforts to ensure that humanitarian law is respected and hospitals, refugee camps and residential areas are saved.
Also so that the population is not denied the most basic rights such as access to water, food and medical care, even in war situations.
However, he believed that even if this immediate goal of minimizing the pain and suffering of the Israeli and Palestinian people is achieved, “it is necessary to address the root causes of the conflict that has lasted more than 75 years and left millions of people behind.” Palestinians “without land, without a home and without the possibility of returning to the land that has always been theirs.”
He stressed that only the actual creation of the State of Palestine will finally end the cycle of hatred and violence that the world has witnessed helplessly for decades and which has already resulted in the bloodshed of Palestinian and Israeli citizens.
“The Palestinian people have the inalienable right to live in the State of Palestine side by side with the State of Israel, respecting the principles of peaceful coexistence, good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation,” he added.
The Angolan president called on the IPU to raise its voice and demand an end to the conflicts in Sudan, Ukraine and the Middle East. “It is urgent to silence the guns and give way to diplomacy to save the lives of civilians, children, women and the elderly and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe,” the President stressed.
He appreciated the need to find consensus on the need to maintain international peace and security, sustainable development and the promotion of human rights, and therefore welcomed with particular satisfaction the debate on these issues during the Assembly.
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