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And it is those more than 11,000 civilian deaths in Gaza that has prompted two former prime ministers and two former foreign ministers to organize a march for Peace In Palestine.
The former PMs, Dean Barrow and Said Musa, as well as the former FM, Assad Shoman and Godfrey Smith, have each issued their respective statements on the war on Palestine, and today, the four of them issued another, collective statement, in which they support the decision made by the government to suspect diplomatic relations with Israel.
The statement reads, quote, "We regard it as the very least that Belize could do to comply with our obligation under the Genocide Convention and the Geneva Conventions of 1949 on international humanitarian law. Under those Conventions we are obligated to do all in our power to denounce and seek to stop a violation of the Conventions, especially one so egregious as genocide." End quote.
They added that since October 7th, Israel has dropped more than 25,000 tonnes of explosives on Gaza. They also state that this is a case of settler colonialism and illegal occupation, in which Israel has forcibly taken territory from Palestine, and imprisoned thousands of its people without charge.
And next Wednesday, those who feel the same will have a chance to show their solidarity by marching through the streets of Belize City. Today one of the organizers, Godfrey Smith, told us more.
Godfrey Smith, Co-Organizer, March For Peace in Palestine
"It's a situation that we've been paying close attention to and we thought that the least we could do is to show our concern for the terrible catastrophic loss of lives by putting on a March to show solidarity if nothing else. We don't know whether it will lead to anything it doesn't matter but if your conscience is pricked by what is happening then one should be moved to say something or or put on a show of solidarity for peace in Palestine."
Reporter:
"We've seen massive demonstrations all across the world. Those countries have big populations, as you know ours isn't so big and a lot of people have this mentality that it does not concern me. Are you expecting or what type of crowd are you expecting on Wednesday."
Godfrey Smith, Co-Organizer, March For Peace in Palestine
"I suppose not a huge amount we know what organizing these things are like Courtney. Even when mass parties do it it's not huge but it's not about that. It's about simply if you feel in your conscience or in your heart or whatever that you want to show solidarity you come out. So it's not about how big it is it's a matter of I feel better about myself if I do something I can't just sit everyday for the past month watching what is unfolding unfold without saying something without doing something because let's reduce it to it's most basic. It's about humanity isn't it?"
"It's about watching innocent civilians and everybody, all of the UN agencies say it's innocent people are dying. Hopefully also sending a Signal to the government that we support we see the acts they have taken. We support certainly the diplomatic measures that the Prime Minister of Belize the foreign minister of Belize and the cabinet have made in relation to this issue simply to stop what's going on and try to put some pressure so that some rationality can prevail."
"I think it's important for the world to have their voices heard on the most important thing which is the shocking loss of innocent life. That's what people are calling for ceasefire. They are not making a judgment one way or the next they're saying this has to stop and that's the most important thing."
The march begins at Memorial Park at 10am and will end at Battlefield Park, where there will be a few short speeches.
