Palestine had been a true friend of Sri Lanka since time immemorial and had come to its assistance in numerous needy times and now Sri Lanka has the opportunity to show her gratitude to the Arab nation besieged by brutal Israeli attacks, the JVP told Parliament yesterday.

"More than 700 innocent Palestinians, including children, have been killed and 3,000 wounded by Israeli bombings in the Gaza strip. Since the latest round of atrocities started from December 27, 2008 over 1.5 million people were deprived of their basic needs. They are starving and have no medical facilities. Issuance of condemnations would not redress their grievances. Sri Lanka has to do something meaningful for the Palestine people," JVP Parliamentary Group Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in a special statement to the House.

Escalating violence has resulted in loss of lives and Palestine needs no letters of condemnation but humanitarian assistance, he said. Several nations had requested Israel to stop further attacks but in vain. "We believe that Sri Lanka should and could mediate to assist Palestine. Since we have relationships with Arab world since time immemorial, our government should extend more meaningful assistance to a friend in need," he said.

He called upon the Government to take the lead in promoting world opinion against the pro-Israeli attitude of countries such as USA and Britain.

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama replying said: "We are watching the situation very carefully and are deeply concerned over the violence in the Gaza Strip, which has resulted in a large number of civilian casualties, especially women and children."

"The Government of Sri Lanka issued a press statement on 29th December, 2008 calling for all parties concerned to end the violence, to ensure a climate conducive for the commencement of negotiations to find a lasting solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Due to our sustained interest we issued yet another statement on 5th January 2009, expressing our concern over the continuing violence, reiterating our position on the Palestine Issue, and calling all the parties to end military action and observe a ceasefire which would reduce the prevailing tensions and lead to a conducive environment for negotiations."

"At a personnel level as a friend of Palestine, President Mahinda Rajapaksa telephoned the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and expressed his deep concern over the disastrous situation in Gaza, and expressed his sympathies to the families of those killed in the attacks during this period."

"Our representative in Palestine Dr. T. Jayasinghe has also been asked to look after the wellbeing of the five Sri Lankans stranded in Gaza. At the multilateral level the Sri Lankan Government supports the efforts taken by the United Nations under the Stewardship of the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to bring a swift end to the violence ending the human suffering in Gaza, which would facilitate diplomatic efforts and would bring a lasting solution to the conflict."

"We have been consistent advocate in our support for the inalienable rights of the Palestine people to establish an independent Palestine State within secure boarders to co-exist in peace with its neighbours."