We are once again commemorating the anniversary of Operation Pedestal – the eighty-third anniversary, and year-in year-out we gather here to honour the bravery, stamina, and resilience of the allied forces and particularly of the Maltese people.
The strength, the determination, and above all, the endurance of the Maltese people, their combined unity in hardship are qualities that are staring us in the face, begging decisive action when we look at the ongoing massacre of humanitarian standards of operation and conduct, which standards should be inalienable.
It is useless if year-in and year-out we continue to meet and extol the heroism of the past, a heroism which saved Europe from the scourge of Nazism and its concomitant atrocities, particularly the Holocaust, unless in the present day realities concrete action does not result from the disgust voiced by women and men who have taken to the streets in protest at the continuous and continuing pummelling of a people. A pummelling seen by its perpetrators as righteous retaliation!
This is flouting of the rules and stability of the international order, flagrant undermining of the principles at the root of the United Nations Charter, born out of the death and blood of the Second World War, manifested also in overt disregard for Security Council Resolutions.
The impression is that Security Council Resolution 2334, so important with reference to the Middle East crisis, is being consistently undermined and dismantled.
Repetition ad nauseum of the mantra of support for a two-State solution to the Middle East crisis will not materialise unless it is backed by decisive actions, the implementation of all resources permitted in the legitimate pursuit of peace and the well-being and protection of the Palestinian people.
I sincerely feel that we would be wanting the respect and admiration present generations owe to the heroism of our predecessors in their fight for peace, dignity, and the peaceful co-existence of people, if we do not seriously take up the mantle of the rights of the women, the men, the old, and particularly the young generation living in the hellish deprivations of Gaza.
I ask: Are we not aware that the longer this situation persists, the more hatred will fester in the relationship between the two peoples, and that this will aggravate the situation the international community will face for generations to come?
So please, let us honour the sacrifice of our forefathers by acknowledging through our actions the perennial values they gave up their lives and visions for.
I appeal to the heads of mission of all states represented here to convey to their respective governments the need for serious concerted actions to forge a peaceful way forward in respect and dignity for basic humanitarian rights and the rights of peoples.
This is the cry emerging from the protests all over the world by people who have taken to the streets expressing disgust and concern for the situation in the Middle East.
We have to commemorate this spirit by decisive actions and a heavier onus presses on the shoulders of those states which exert greater influence and are considered world leaders.
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