Stronger together

Jamaica’s former deputy permanent representative to the United Nations Ambassador Byron Blake says individual member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) taking action against Israel will have no real impact on the Middle Eastern country.

Blake, a former assistant secretary general of the CARICOM Secretariat, said the regional bloc must instead seek to collectively sanction Israel over its sustained bombing of Gaza, where more than 11,000 people have been slaughtered in its raging war against Hamas.

“The Caribbean Community should be working as a group to decide on what action should be taken. The individual approach is not a strong one and, in fact, is not the approach I would counsel,” Blake told The Gleaner on Tuesday.

“I would counsel that they consult and determine what action they are going to take and then do that as a group both because of numbers and also in terms of impact,” he said.

He said that, as a first step, CARICOM states, with the exception of Jamaica and Haiti, voted on a Jordanian resolution at the United Nations General Assembly which called for a humanitarian truce in the ongoing Hamas-Israel conflict in the Middle East.

SECOND STEP

He said the second step must be to collectively discontinue diplomatic relations with Israel as a means of ramping up action against the United States-backed state.

“It should be an escalation of action. So you reduce your diplomatic relations as a good second step as a region because you need to have impact. Individual countries won’t have that much of an impact. When you have 12 or 13 countries speaking one time that is immediate impact,” said Blake, while clarifying that Jamaica is unlikely to participate.

Jamaica failed to vote on the October 27 resolution but has belatedly called for a ceasefire in the region.

Belize on Tuesday announced that it would suspend diplomatic relations with Israel, amid its “unceasing indiscriminate bombing in Gaza” since October 7, killing mostly women and children.

The country said that, with immediate effect, it was withdrawing its agreement for accreditation of Israel’s ambassador designate.

Further, it said all activities conducted by Israel’s honorary consulate in Belize and the appointment of the honorary consul were suspended.

Belize’s government said it was further suspending all activities of Belize’s honorary consulate in Tel Aviv, withdrawing the appointment of its honorary consul along with its request for accreditation.

“Belize renews its call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the unimpeded access of humanitarian supplies into Gaza and the release of all hostages,” the government said in a statement.

The CARICOM country said Israel’s bombing of Gaza has destroyed buildings and infrastructure including hospitals, schools and has displaced more than a million Gazans.

It said basic necessities of life, including water, food, electricity, medical supplies, are severely curtailed by the Israel-imposed siege on Gaza.

“Lives have been lost as a result. Since the 7th October 2023, Israel has consistently violated international law, international humanitarian law and the human rights of Gazans.

“The government of Belize has repeatedly condemned the actions of the IDF (Israel Defense Force) in Gaza. We have appealed to Israel to implement an immediate ceasefire, and to allow unimpeded access of humanitarian supplies into Gaza,” Belize’s statement said.

It said despite these requests, Israel has not stopped its violations of international humanitarian law nor allowed relief workers to alleviate the suffering of millions of Gazans.

Israel has maintained that it has a right to defend itself following the Palestinian militant group’s brutal attack on hundreds of festival goers in the early hours of October 7, killing many.

It has consistently argued that Hamas has used hospitals to shield itself in the ongoing war.

The US for the first time said that it had intel to support Israel’s claim.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com