By P.K.Balachandran
Colombo, October 17: Though with a population of only 523, 787 and depending heavily on Western tourist arrivals for its income, Maldives has been bravely taking up the cause of the people of Gaza in the teeth of big power opposition.
Tiny as it may be, Maldives has been in the forefront of global campaigns against Israel, even as large and economically powerful countries including India and China have chosen to be passive onlookers as tragedy mounts in Gaza day by day.
According to the UN Human Rights chief, 40,000 Palestinian were killed in Gaza from the second week of October 2023 to August 2024. And the slaughter is continuing.
Ban on Israeli Passports
Maldives is going to disallow Israeli passport holders from entering the country. The ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), which has majority in Parliament, has called for the swift passage of the Immigration Amendment Bill by parliament to ban Israeli passport holders. For reasons yet unknown, the bill is held up in Parliament’s Security Services Committee since June.
The bill has vast support as it was an opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) MP, Mikael Naseem, who had introduced it.
In June, President Mohamed Muizzu had also announced a national fundraising campaign called “Maldivians in Solidarity with Palestine”.
According to Al Jazeera nearly 11,000 Israelis had visited the Maldives in 2023, which was 0.6% of total tourist arrivals that year. Official data showed that the number of Israelis visiting the Maldives dropped to 528 in the first four months of 2024, down 88% compared to the corresponding period in 2023.
The Maldives had banned Israeli tourists in the early 1990s. But it was lifted in 2010 by the then pro-Western President Mohamed Nasheed.
Currently, Israeli passport holders are not allowed to enter Algeria, Bangladesh, Brunei, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen.
Long History
Maldives has a long history of condemning Israel’s aggression against Palestinians in the UN. As early as April 29, 2019, Maldives had taken up the Palestine issue in the UN Security Council (UNSC).
Speaking in the UNSC, Maldivian representative Dr Ali Naseer Mohamed said the UNSC had failed to protect its legitimacy on the Question of Palestine, which is probably the most enduring issue in the Council’s history.
“Since the last debate on this topic held in January this year (2019), more countries have announced their intention to move their Embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. And in recent weeks we heard the disturbing news that Israel’s illegal annexation of the Syrian Golan is also receiving recognition. Such decisions are illegal and in clear violation of the Resolutions of this Council and the UN Charter.”
“This Council has declared, null and void, through the Resolutions 476 and 478 (1980), Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, the annexation of Jerusalem, shifting of the Israeli capital to Jerusalem.”
“Through Resolution 2334, the Council called upon all States to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the Arab territories occupied since 1967.”
“The Maldives, therefore, requests the President of the Security Council to publicly condemn the decisions by any country to recognise Israel’s illegal annexations of Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan, and encourage these countries to return to the right side of international law and conduct themselves in a manner consistent with international norms of acceptable behaviour,” Naseer Mohamed said.
Statement at ICJ
On July 25, 2023, Maldives gave a written statement to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague, seeking an opinion on the consequences of the policies and practices in Israeli-Occupied Palestine, including East Jerusalem. The ICJ was expected to give its opinion in terms of compliance with international law, rules and principles, and the legal consequences that follow.
South Africa had filed the case in the ICJ on December 29, 2023, alleging that Israel was violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which came into effect in 1948.
Maldives’ submission to the ICJ said: “Maldives is deeply concerned that the Palestine issue remains unresolved despite decades of efforts by the UN and its Member States to find a peaceful, just and lasting solution. The rights of the Palestinian people have been systematically dismissed, violating international law and resolutions of UN organs.”
“Maldives has consistently called for lasting peace through a Two State solution, and stands unwavering in its support for an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, established along the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
“The Maldives has, on the international plane, voiced its position and otherwise substantively engaged on the Palestine issue for many years. Notably, it has consistently made statements before the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on this issue.”
Genocide in Gaza
On October 13, 2023, the Maldives strongly condemned the Israeli military aggression against innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli military demand that 1.2 million civilians in northern Gaza relocate to its south within 24 hours.
In the absence of any guarantees for safety this would amount to a war crime (forcible transfer) and it must be reversed, Maldives said.
“The indiscriminate attacks are already claiming the lives of hundreds of innocent civilian Palestinians, including women and children, and wounding thousands more. The attacks have further destroyed critical infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, United Nations facilities, residential buildings, and places of worship,” it added.
Maldives considered these “deliberate acts of aggression against the innocent civilian population of Palestine a blatant disregard and violation of international humanitarian law, tantamount to a war crime.”
Maldives called upon the international community to use all possible measures to stop the ongoing inhumane attacks against the innocent civilians in Palestine, and to ensure the opening of humanitarian corridors to facilitate the urgent delivery of medicines, food supplies and basic needs to the Gaza Strip.
On October 28, 2023, Maldives co-sponsored a resolution calling for immediate and sustained humanitarian truce in Gaza that was adopted by the UN General Assembly. The resolution firmly rejected any attempts at the forced transfer of the Palestinian civilian population.
Apart from Maldives, other sponsors were: Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belize, Bolivia, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Comoros, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Egypt, El Salvador, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Turkiye, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of), Yemen and Zimbabwe.
India and China as well as the Western powers were not among the sponsors.
In May 2024, Maldives co-sponsored the resolution to support the admission of the State of Palestine as a full member state of the United Nations which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly today. The resolution was presented by the United Arab Emirates on behalf of the Arab Group, and the Maldives was among the first states to co-sponsor the draft resolution.
The Resolution determined that the State of Palestine is qualified for membership in the United Nations and recommends the Security Council to consider the matter favourably. The resolution further decides that Palestine shall be given additional rights of participation within the United Nations system, starting from the seventy-ninth session of the General Assembly.
The Resolution was passed by the General Assembly with 143 votes in favour, 9 against, and 25 abstentions.
In September 2024, President Muizzu met the Palestinian President Dr Mahmoud Abbas on the side lines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and told him that Maldives condemned the ongoing genocide and war crimes committed against the Palestinian people.
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