The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has proposed a group of international mediators for the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Bishop Kukah said the mediators should include a former Nigerian president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES, the cleric also proposed former US President Barack Obama, King Abdullah of Jordan, former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and former Ireland President Mary Robinson to serve as international mediators.
Bishop Kukah said international mediators were important in revisiting and reviving the two-state agreement reached in Oslo, Norway, where a decision was reached for both Palestine and Israel to each have a homeland.
The Oslo Agreement in 1993 was meant to resolve the Israel-Palestine crisis by ensuring a two-state solution.
The agreement has mainly failed because Israel, concerned about its security, has expanded and continues to expand into Palestinian territories, establishing settlements considered illegal by international law.
He said: “The Oslo agreement needs to be dusted up, but I do not see Netanyahu contemplating that.”
The cleric’s concern about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu perhaps stems from the latter’s right-wing Israeli government, considered one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history, with many members opposed to an independent Palestinian state as agreed in Oslo.
Bishop Kukah said his concerns about Netanyahu justify the call for the UN Security Council to initiate an envoy or a team of international mediators.
“After all, they hold the key to keeping the world just and safe,” he added.
