- Wamalwa's sentiments are in stark contrast with the position taken by President William Ruto who chose a side with Israel.
- Ruto on Saturday condemned the attacks by a group of Palestinian militants under the Hamas faction noting that Kenya doesn't support terrorism.
Image: EUGENE WAMALWA/X
Former Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa has said that Kenya should not take sides in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.
This is as thousands of people have been confirmed dead in Israel and Palestine after a massive coordinated assault by Hamas militants that started early Saturday.
In a statement on Monday, the former CS said that Kenya should instead call for peace.
"Kenya should not take sides and stand with Israel or Palestine in the escalating Middle East war, but should call and stand for Peace," he said.
He said the move to bring peace between the two countries would be through the implementation of the two-state solution.
"l concur with the head of the African Union boss Moussa Faki Mahamat, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa that the path to lasting and sustainable peace is the implementation of the two-State solution," he said.
Wamalwa's sentiments are in stark contrast with the position taken by President William Ruto and the AU boss who each chose a side to support in the conflict.
Ruto made a firm decision to stand with Israel while Mahamat said the war was because of the denial of fundamental rights of the Palestinian people.
His remarks have been interpreted as the AU backing Palestine.
In a statement on Saturday, Ruto condemned the attacks by a group of Palestinian militants under the Hamas faction noting that Kenya doesn't support terrorism.
"Kenya joins the rest of the world in solidarity with the State of Israel and unequivocally condemns terrorism and attacks on innocent civilians in the country," Ruto said.
Faki called on both parties "to return, without preconditions, to the negotiating table to implement the principle of two States living side by side".
"The chairperson wishes to recall that denial of the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people, particularly that of an independent and sovereign State, is the main cause of the permanent Israeli-Palestinian tension," the statement said.
During the dawn attack on Saturday, Palestinian militant groups launched well-coordinated air and ground offensive against Israel, catching the country's intelligence agencies napping.
The militants broke through the Gaza–Israel barrier and used improvised paragliders to set foot in various parts of Israel from where they launched attacks.
An estimated 7,000 rockets were fired into Israel at multiple places resulting into over 1,000 fatalities by late Monday.
Israel immediately launched retaliatory attacks and fired rocket propelled artillery fire into Gaza bases resulting into over 400 deaths according to Palestinian authorities.