BOGOTA (Dispatches) – The Colombian president says his government has decided to submit a proposal to the United Nations to recognize Palestine as a fully independent, member state of the world body.
Gustavo Petro announced the decision on Monday in a text accompanying images on his X account showing Palestinian people killed by the Zionist regime’s attack on al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
He wrote, “The carnage unleashed by [Zionist prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.”
“Colombia will present a proposal to the United Nations so that Palestine is accepted as a full [member] state,” he said.
The Colombian president also said Bogota will stop purchasing weapons from countries that voted against or abstained from the UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“I also call on democratic and progressive countries to fight to preserve international humanitarian law to prevent barbarism from spreading in the world,” he stated.
The Colombian leader said Sunday that his country will contribute to a complaint filed by the Republic of Algeria with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Netanyahu for war crimes.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune had earlier called on The Hague-based court to intervene and stop the Zionist regime’s relentless bombardment of the besieged Palestinian territory.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro urged people all over the world to fight for Palestinian “life and land” by continuing mass demonstrations and calling for an end to Israeli genocide in Gaza.
During his weekly television program on Tuesday, Maduro said “The world must stay in the streets, because we must win this battle for the right to life and land, and the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
Last week he said that humanity must stand up against Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people while hosting the Palestinian ambassador to Caracas, Fadi al-Zaben, on television.
“Women and children are being killed in a horrific manner,” he said.
The Bolivarian leader has consistently emphasized the need to put an end to the genocide being committed against the Palestinians in Gaza by the Zionist regime.
“We must demand, with one voice, an end to the genocide against the Palestinian people,” he said on October 31, stressing that “I implore the world to raise their voices and put a stop to the extermination and violence against the Palestinian people.”
Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets all over the world in the past month despite governments’ ban on pro-Palestinian protests, calling for an end to the Israeli regime’s ongoing genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip.