South Africa’s Parliamentary Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula on Friday urged G20 countries to not take sides in the raging conflict between Israel and Palestine, but to rather intervene to stop the war as "no one is a winner".

Speaking during the ninth G20 Parliamentary Speakers' Summit in India, Mapisa-Nqakula warned that if not curbed, the conflict would exacerbate the already deadly situation which had left many people dead.

The fighting between Israel and Hamas stems from seven decades of war and conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and has destabilised the wider Middle East.

Mapisa-Nqakula conveyed South Africa’s full support for a two-State solution, which will ensure that the States of Israel and Palestine live side by side peacefully.

“There is no winner in the war situation as we all suffer losses and casualties. This conflict has sadly resulted in the loss of innocent lives from both sides, in particular women and children,” she stressed. 

SUSTAINABILITY AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

She is also of the view that enhancing sustainable lifestyles, globally, and addressing excessive and unsustainable production and consumption patterns – which are major contributors to the degradation of the environment and which have massive negative natural disaster consequences – is key.

General development, and economic growth initiatives and drives, must be equitable, inclusive and sustainable so that current generations' advancement was not at the expense of future generations, she argued.

She said people’s hope was for Parliaments to serve as catalysts in finding sustainable solutions to global challenges, such as climate change, and ensuring that there was always global economic and financial stability, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“In this regard, governments have a huge obligation to bring along communities, and citizens at large, through consistent educational programmes and effective awareness campaigns about the importance of living a lifestyle that will protect and safeguard our environment for sustainable living,” she emphasised.

She reminded the delegates that whatever interventions were put forward in the quest for a particular lifestyle, these would never make sense to the poorest of the poor, who were in perpetual struggle to get food to survive, unless parliamentarians made their lives better.