COLOMBO: Politicians from multiple Sri Lankan parties are calling for a break in diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv after Israeli attacks wounded two UN peacekeepers from the South Asian nation.
Sri Lankan troops are part of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, which is tasked with helping the Lebanese Army keep control over the south of the country, which borders Israel.
The Sri Lankan contingent consists of 125 personnel who are deployed to the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura village. Israeli tanks that entered the area earlier this month have been firing on the peacekeeping forces and on Thursday wounded two Indonesian soldiers. On Friday, Israeli tank fire wounded two Sri Lankans.
Sri Lanka Army spokesperson Brig. Nilantha Premaratne told Arab News the country’s troops were securing the UNIFIL’s headquarters. Two of them — lance corporals from the Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment and from the Armored Corps — were hit by shrapnel and had to be hospitalized.
“One is treated in the hospital inside the base camp, and one was transferred to another hospital. He had to undergo surgery,” Premaratne said.
Another source familiar with the matter told Arab News the soldier was in “serious condition.”
The incident sent a shockwave through the South Asian nation, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs issuing a statement condemning the attack, but politicians in Colombo say it is not enough.
Marjan Faleel from Sri Lanka People’s Front, the country’s largest party, called for diplomatic ties to be cut and Israeli products embargoed.
“Enough of Israeli atrocities. Now they are laying their hands on the peacekeeping mission,” he told Arab News.
“Sri Lanka should take up this matter at the International Court of Justice and also sever all diplomatic relations with Israel, and also boycott all its products.”
Sri Lanka has already cut ties with Israel two times — in 1971 and 1992 — each time for nearly a decade.
For Azath Salley, leader of the National Unity Alliance, it was time to do it again, as he vowed that his party would work toward a diplomatic break with Tel Aviv after next month’s parliamentary election.
“It is Israeli terrorism, and the world knows it well,” he said. “The first thing we are going to do is go to parliament and (call) to sever all ties with Israel. We don’t want any Israelis to come to Sri Lanka.”
The need for action on the international level is seen as necessary to put an end to Israel’s impunity in the wake of its deadly war on Gaza since October 2023 and the invasion of Lebanon, which began two weeks ago.
Hussein Mohamed, former diplomat and member of the United National Party expected Sri Lanka’s newly appointed government to “take up this matter at all international fora” and act.
“Israeli atrocities should not be tolerated. Sri Lanka should take legal action,” he told Arab News.
Inaction was affecting all the UN rights mechanisms and their applicability to others, according to Shreen Abdul Saroor, Sri Lankan rights advocate with the Women’s Action Network.
“Israel has been violating almost every human right and humanitarian international law and convention,” she said, adding that it may set different standards for all those in the Global South, who might abandon the UN and Western-set order.
“The recent attack is very problematic because the UN peacekeepers in Lebanon have been attacked by Israel and Western countries are (indifferent) about it. They are not criticizing anything.”
