Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Kalaba says Zambia has always advocated for a two state solution to the Palestine and Israeli challenges.
Mr Kalaba said that it was normal procedure for a country to abscond from voting on a proposed motion at the United Nations, as doing so is expressing a vote in itself.
Mr Kalaba said Zambia would like to see a peaceful settlement of the impasse between Israel and Palestine.
He said Zambia enjoys cordial relations with both Israel and Palestine adding that both countries have Ambassadors resident in Zambia.
Mr Kalaba also said Zambia being a Christian nation understands and values the important role that Jerusalem plays in the Christian faith, as well as its importance to the people of Palestine.
He said Zambia was not the only country but was amongst the 35 who absconded on the vote to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.
And Mr Kalaba called for unity amongst Zambia as the country goes into a new year.
He says Zambians must work at that which united them and avoid that which divides the country.
In his message of love and unity in the Nation, Mr Kalaba said time had come for Zambians to push differences aside but work for a common good and develop the Country.
He was speaking at Bole International Airport when he transited from France.
Mr Kalaba was received by Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia Susan Sikaneta and newly appointed Minister Counsellor John Chanda Chisanga.
Trump and his white europeans who call themselves Jews should sit down somewhere. Jerusalem existed way before europeans or white people existed.
The Zionist State of Israel only came into existence in 1948. Jerusalem was already there. There were people already living there.
The Zionist need to be charged for crimes against humanity for Genocide against Palestinians.
Beggars don’t make decisions. They just move with the flow.
@ Lombe
You sound just like Liar Kalaba, full of half truths and outright lies. Are you related?
Kalaba speaks like he is THE President. The real one does not respect the Zambian people enough to talk to them.
We can’t be this stuuupid. What a failure of spin doctoring!
“it was normal procedure for a country to abscond from voting on a proposed motion at the United Nations, as doing so is expressing a vote in itself.”??????!!????
What crap! Which fools will swallow this?
Jerusalem is a moral issue. Because of that, Zambia needed to stake a stand in solidarity with the other nations of the world. By absconding, Zambia sent a mixed a message to the world.
@Lombe (MA) you seem not to understand the history of Jerusalem/Palestine conflict! You have to go back to the biblical times to get a better understanding. As a Christian it will also not be difficult to have a ”biased” opinion! For your information, Zambia was one of the 3 countries designated by the British and UN to be the State of Israel! That is why mostly on the Copperbelt there were a lot of Jews! Notable ones include Simon Zukas (Minister in the last MMD government), Sardanis (first Zambian Ministry of Commerce PS), Dennis Figov etc. The influence of Jews in Ndola was greater than Palestinian, and it is only right that we must support Jews. They built the University of Zambia, UTH what more do we need to say!
It was a betrayal of morality for Zambia to decide not to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the nations of the world and get counted, as regards matter of such grave significance. It was a betrayal of justice. That’s not what it means to a Christian nation – far from it. This behavior can only be likened to that of Judas Iscariot who, for thirty pieces of silver, decided to betray our Lord.
@Mary Matongo, Judas Iscariot did not betray Yeshua for 30 pieces of silver. Rather, he did it to fulfill prophecy. You Christos must bow to the man otherwise your Jesus would’ve been a liar. Iscariot was your hero.
(Assuming Jesus even existed. The letter J did not exist until 300AD. 25 years letter the Council of Nicea convened and the name Jesus came into being. What a coincidence!
Lies repeated can masquerade for the truth 🙁 Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. Zambia also benefits more from cordial relations with Israel. Shalom Jerusalem!
Lombe very shallow and deeply misinformed. Go and read a bit then comment that expose your deep ignorance.
Ask any Palestinian and they will tell u Israel and Jerusalem has existed way over 3000 yrs and has been home to the Jewish people. The Palestinians claim East Jerusalem for there capital and they admit both them and the Jews belong there and it’s the politics of land they need to share bearing in mind the extremists on both sides who oppose any peaceful settlement.
Jerusalem is sometimes referred to as the City of God not of Allah. As a Christian nation we should have come out clear on whose side we are: God or Allah.
I agree, as a Christian Nation, this was defining moment.
@Kachingwe: In your mind which one was the right side? Because “ALLAH” simply means “GOD” in Arabic.
Now, if you are taking about being Christian; again, which side is the right side? You mean the Israeli/Trump side? Do you even realize that moving the U.S Embassy is just a POLITICAL move by Trump which has nothing to do with Christianity? And if you think by siding with Israel as a “Christian Nation” (as you put it) then you are on the side of God is really a perverse way of cementing your FAITH in your GOD. By the way, if you didn’t know, Jews are not even Christians or believe in Jesus the same way Christians do. And modern-day State of Israel has nothing to do, bears any resemblance, or in common with the Biblical Israel. This all issues is about Trump’s and Nataniahu’s…
Continue:
… (sp) hardline politics…nothing more, nothing less!
So, since this Embassy issue has nothing to do with matters of FAITH, Zambia took a right position by NOT siding with one side or the other. Trump only did this to please political extremists both in his Party and Israel. Not for Religious Faith or Wise Diplomacy
Was not jesus a jew
True. He was not a zionist
Yeah but he was denied by the jews
Yes, he was a Jew! But Jews rejected him and finally hanged him. To date, Jews do not believe in Jesus as their Saviour the way Christians do.
Its time Zambia revisited the two state solution and Jerusalem being the capital of either Israel or Palestine, a state that has never existed, now that Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel. The terrorists will never have Jerusalem as their capital when they bow to mecca and their asses face JERUSALEM. Jehovah Adonai will not allow it.
I have read it all, but Kalaba does not state the reason. Please change the title of the story, it is misleading.
The reason is, Zambia wanted to stay NEUTRAL by not taking a position either way. IT IS ALLOWED in the U.N General Assembly!
Zambia as a Sovereign State has a right to take assess issues and make INDEPENDENT decisions, and not just go along because it is popular to so, or buys you favour by doing so. You should listen to what Mandela once said (in interview with Ted Kapil(sp)) concerning Palestinians/Palestine and the PLO….very interesting! It shows how Independent principled Persons and Countries should behave and think on issues such as this.
Zambia should unequivocally stand with Israel ,those Arabs are slave traders.
THE TRUTH IS ISRAEL IS A ZIONIST EVIL SECULAR STATE AND NOT A JEWISH HOLY STATE.
LOOK AT ISRAELI ACTIONS: PALESTINIANS ARE BEING DISPLACED ALL THE TIME AND ARE TREATED AS SECOND CLASS CITIZENS IN THE ONLY LAND THEY HAVE EVER KNOWN. JESUS SAID LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOUR SELF. ZIONISM DOES NOT BELIEVE IN CHRISTIAN VALUES OR TWO STATE SOLUTION. THAT IS PART OF THE PROBLEM.
ZIONISTS HAVE AMERICA AS THEIR OTHER HOME.
A JEWISH STATE WOULD LIVE SIDE BY SIDE WITH A PALESTINIAN STATE.
The minister had to wait until Amos wrote a speech for him. They didnt have an immediate answer so the chief speech writer had to come up with an acceptable statement.
LT abscond is the wrong word abstain is tbe correct word
It is acceptable for a member nation not to be present at a UN meeting. It’s expressong a vote in itself
I think tnats what the upnd mps did, express a vote in tnemselves when they did not attend the presodents address.
Difference being????
To abstain is to be present but not vote
Anti apartheid, look at zambia today zambians are being displaced daily by chinese and being treated as second class citizens tbru, lack of good sanitation, labour practices condoned by the labour minister, theft of natural resources, employment of foreigners before zambians, foreign companies given priority on projects, investors selling chicken and maize on tbe street.
And who’s fault is that Masalamuso, Zambians vote in govt who are paid to make laws and enforce them.
Singapore got independence the same yr as Zambia Singapore was 3 rd world but today its modern 1st world and the banking capitol of Asia and has no minerals but has the biggest port and trading nation after china. Zambia is where it was 60 yrs ago or worse. interesting that this year Zambia turns 54 and that’s the same number of yrs N Rhodesia was under British control. look at the investment built then and now. What has been built in the last decade is by Chinese and substandard and the rest before that was European built with their foreign aid.
So it’s high time Zambians got off their backside and stop blaming everyone else and start build their country and bring the govt and…
Con’t
MP’s of all to task and kick them out if they don’t pull the line. Zambians deserve more than the rubbish we have in Parliament now.
Ba Minishta,
Can you explain what happened with case (as you informed Parliament) against New York Police Department?
Thanks for a belated statement, Hon Kalabs. In any case, no one expected you to take a position.
Ba Kalaba: In the UN voting system, there are only three types of voting that are recognized: “In Favour”, “Against” and “Abstention”. being absent or absconding is not recognized.
So, Ba Kalaba, with due respect, just accept, your Govt messed up. Your person at the UN Ambassador Kapambwe went shopping instead of standing along-side the rest of the world to vote for two-State solution, which in this instance was voting “Against” the decision of Trump. I am disappointed that. Your misconception of the UN voting system embarrassed Zambia. For the first time, of the 19 resolutions on the status of Jerusalem, we were absent. The remaining 18, we have always voted in favour of the two-State solution like the majority of the UN Members.
No, you can actually decide not to show up (ABSENT) for a vote. That is allowed too!
Jew, thank you i wasnt aware that we didnt even attend,
Today you say Zambia is a Christian nation….and this guy even preaches but he can’t stand for Israel?
Hypocritical
What has Christianity got anything to do with the Politics being played here by Trump?
Ba Kopala educate yourself like most ignorant Africans. Christianity is not Jewishness. Jews aren’t Christians so stop confusing yourself. And Israel is not a nation that was formed for Christians. It was formed for the jews
Not taking a position in favor or against is already a position of non choice . Through our representative we made a non choice. To every choice they are consequences. Those of you who have forgotten how Jews where almost tortured to the point of being eliminated . Are they different from those who wanted to eliminate them by refusing to Co exist with Palestine. In Any case Palestinians exist and not Palestine as a state because what is available is only the west bank and East Jerusalem. With some parts of the Palestinians annexed with Jewish settlements . The world cannot solve this puzzle the future of Palestine and Isreal will eventually be determined by the people themselves. UN votes have failed to provide a two state Solution. my opinion is that eventually a strong Nation…
What is interesting is the lack of understanding over the LAW.
Did you know that there is a UN resolution eauating Zionism with Rascism ?
For all my fellow black skinned brothers. Is it not strange how brainwashed you are ?
The black Falasha jews of Ethiopia have no status of citizenship in Israel.
Arabs and particularly the Palestinians are NOT all Muslims. They were Christians WELL before islam wven appeared on the scene !!! Yet these Christian Arabs too are denied any freedom of religion by Israel. So as a Christian nation we would rather side with those that crucified and tortured Christ over fellow Christians simply because we worship whites ?
Christian Arabs call themselves Copts. Go to Coptic Hospital Lusaka and ask them !!! How long have these arabs been Christian for ? Long before the white missionary set foot in Zambia !!
East and West Jerusalem were split and Israel captured all Palestinian territory in 1967. Now these lands including East Jerusalem are slowky being repopulated so as to expand Israel and wipe out the Palestinians.
You wonder, for so many years, why did KK vote for 13 resolutions against Israel yet never ever allow an Israel embassy? Besides Mobutu, no black president allowed an Israeli embassy ! Was KK being greased by arab oil. No!! KK stood by his principles, even if it meant destroying his economy to ensure freedom in neighbouring countries.
Is it a will of God that Zambia should always advocated for a two state solution to Israeli and Palestine challenges? The fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom. Zambia should make a decision based on the Word of God.
This kind of thinking will one day stumble you into a religious war you don’t even understand. What has Christianity got to do with Trump’s embassy politics in the secular State of Israel?
The audacity and rascism of Trump is breathtaking. Yet some black Zambians are so indoctrinated they fall for him.
If the resolution was a just and noble cause, WHY does Trump have to threaten those who did not support his resolution. He said he will cut off financial aid to any country opposing his Jerusalem resolution.
Germany, UK, France, Etc all these countries have sizable Christian majorities. Why did they not vote for the resolution ?
Only those countries indebted to USAID get bullied ! So its not a question of whats RIGHT, its a question of buying off the principles and truth of poor countries. JUSTICE can be bought through aid.
128 countries, all mainly non-arab voted NO.
Israel terms Christ a bastard child born out of wedlock whilst his mother was…
… having her menses. I can NEVER support a country with that view . Please fellow bloggers, give me the Jewish Talmuds view of Christ and I will shut my mouth. Read it !!!!
Where are the Christian interests in Jerusalem and Nazareth etc.
We should first secure our interests and not blindly do the dirty work for anyone else, muslim or jew, until Chritians themselves see what is best for them !!
Fully agree with you Mwape …..seems many are blinded by the bible…..and if they believe the bible do much why don’t they use it a legal document to prove who j’salem belongs to ??
Read this speech from the prime minister of Israel….. Benjamin Netanyahu, with all Glory to God.
Mr. Nethanyahu said:
Only 70 years ago! The Jews were taken to the slaughter like sheep.
60 years ago! We had no country. No Army.
Seven Arab countries declared war on our small Jewish state, just a few hours after its creation!
We were only 650 Jews, against the rest of the Arab world! NO IDF (Israel Defense Army).
No powerful Air Force, only brave people with nowhere to go.
Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia all attacked us at the same time.
The country that the United Nations gave us was 65 % desert. The country was out of nowhere!
35 years ago! We fought the three most powerful armies in the middle east, and we swept them… yes… in six…
It was not empty desert …….people lived there…..the millions of Palestinians who are now refugees around the world lived in what you are calling a dessert………
35 years ago! We fought the three most powerful armies in the middle east, and we swept them… yes… in six days.
We fought against various coalitions of Arab countries, which had the modern armies and many Soviet weapons, and we had always beaten them!
Today we have:
*A country*
*An army*
*A powerful air force*
*A State-of-the-Art economy which exports millions of dollars*
*Intel – Microsoft – IBM develops products at home*
*Our doctors receive awards for medical research*
We make the desert bloom, and sell oranges, flowers and vegetables all over the world.
Israel has sent its own satellites into space!
Three satellites at the same time!
We are proud to be at the same rank as: The United States, which has 250 million inhabitants,
Russia, which has 200 million…
Israel gets more than $3.8 billion aid pa from the US , it would not survive 6 months without the USA ….if Zambia got that we too would be rich….
Russia, which has 200 million inhabitants
China, which has 1.3 billion inhabitants
Europe – France, Great Britain, Germany – with 350 million inhabitants..
The only countries in the world to send objects into space! Israel is now part of the family of the nuclear powers, with the United States, Russia, China, India, France, and Great Britain.
We have never officially admitted it, (but everyone knows it) and say that only 60 years ago, we were led, ashamed and hopeless, to slaughter!
We have extirpés the smoking ruins of Europe, we have won our wars here with less than nothing. We built our little “Empire” from nothing.
Who’s Hamas to scare me? To terrify me? You make me laugh!
Passover was celebrated; Let’s not forget what this is about.
>We survived Pharaoh…
Natenhahoo is talking rubbish…..isreal has recived over $100 billion in aid from around the world and from the US alone recives $3.8 billion pa , even Somalia with that kind of money would make the desert bloom…….
Over $400 billion….
Poor reading culture indeed.
What is so hard to understand about Zambia’s position on this matter?
We have diplomatic relations with both Israel and Palestine.So what we did with 35 other countries was practical.
Those who wanted us to vote with Trump have very little ideas on a very big problem.
>We survived Pharaoh.
>We survived the Greeks.
>We survived the Romans.
>We survived the inquisition in Spain.
>We have the pogroms in Russia.
>We survived Hitler.
>We survived the Germans.
>We survived the Holocaust.
>We survived the armies of seven Arab countries.
>We survived Saddam.
>We will continue to survive the enemies present today too.
Think of any time in human history! Think about it, for us, the Jewish people, the situation has never been better! Then let’s face the world.
Let us remember: All nations or cultures who once tried to destroy us, no longer exist today – while we still live!
Egypt?
The Greeks?
Alexander of Macedonia?
The Romans? (does anyone still speak Latin these days? )
The Third Reich?
And look at us,
>The Bible Nation.
>The slaves…
And look at us,
>The Bible Nation.
>The slaves of Egypt.
>We are still here.
And we speak the same language! then, and now! Arabs don’t know yet, but they will learn that there is a God ….as long as we keep our identity, we are forever.
So forgive us for not worrying.
>Not to cry.
>Not to be afraid.
>Things are fine here.
>They could certainly get better.
However: Don’t believe the media, they don’t tell you that parties continue to take place, people continue to live, people keep coming out, people continue to see friends.
Yes, our morale is low. So what? Only because we mourn our deaths, while others rejoice in the blood shed. That is why we will win, in the end.
He never sleeps or will ever sleep…. the guardian of Israel…. Yahweh God of Abraham, Isaac…
Israel would not survive 6 months without aid from the USA stop bigging your self up and think oppressing Palestinians is kosher…..infact being in Israel is like being a caterpillar in an ants nest…..
He never sleeps or will ever sleep…. the guardian of Israel…. Yahweh God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Forward this speech to the whole community, and to people around the world. They are part of our strength.
Share on your walls and with all of your friends….
You Jews of israel helped the boers in South African oppress black people , you helped delay the end of black South Africans freedom……you were working with the boers ……we will never forget that.
Israel does not need any vote from anyone, let alone from a Cholera infested Zambia! Jerusalem has always been the capital of Israel. The encroachments from the descendants of Ishmael will not change the truth! A Christian nation should know better that God has not forsaken his people Israel and Israel remains the Apple of His eye! READ!
If what the bible says is true why don’t you use the bible as proof and evidence at the international courts to prove j’salem belongs to you ?????
And may I ask , how come we have more Jews living in cholera infested Zambia then we have black Zambians in Israel ???
The enemies of south africa should not always be our enemies
@29.3 Jew
They need not be your enemies but jews would do well without gloating about their success while we all know there is a darker side…..
@29.4 Spaka like lilo:
“…while we all know there is a darker side…..” This is powerful. Thanks.
Catch 22
Thank you Hon Kalaba. Agreed, nothing to debate here. Let us all pf and upnd spend our energy working together and sort out the cholera affecting our people. Pointing fingers for political gain and even sending youths and cadres to spread cholera in order to paint the government black amounts to hating and hurting the very people that we want to rule. If you are Zambians you must work together. If you are not we will understand.
So now you want to try and say people are sending youth to spread cholera ?? Pathetic…pf have failed just admit.
PF cader
You start fires in markets to justify spending $1 million on a fire truck then try to blame the opposition, you know $17 billion and forget to wipe your arse now cholera attacks, you want to blame the opposition ????
Truly laughable as JJ would say….
To me, this was clearly a valley of decision and we missed the chance to show the world where we stand as a nation. Abstaining to vote is nothing but fear to express one’s position.
Togo is the only African country that had balls and voted with the US. All the other African states including Ethiopia, which previously supported the move and itself has thousands of Ethiopian Jews living in Israel did not have enough courage to back up their words.
And what does the scripture say? “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand be crippled!” Psalm 137,5
Nine chale
Africans know what fighting for an independent country of your own means….we fully identify with the Palestinians and their aspirations to have a country of their own….
Africans also love and respect Israel ……
Spaka, I get your point but that’s a different pair of shoes. To recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital does not meant that we are opposed to Palestina’s existence. There are many solutions to the Palestinian problem without making Jerusalem the decisive issue – those people would have had their own country already by now if they did not cling on to Jerusalem by all means. They have Mecca already, why do they want the City of David?
Nine chale have you heard of the dome of the rock ? And the millions of Palestinians living in refugee camps around the world , where do you think they were evicted from ? Mecca ?
What matters at the moment isn’t the history of this conflict that has existed since 1948. The question is: which god can reward his followers for killing fellow humans? Can the gods of Israelis or that of Palestinians reward them for the senseless killings that occur between these two parties? I don’t think God our Creator can reward this criminality. Both sides will answer for their sins, they’re not doing for God but to satisfy their ego. Zambia can’t side with either side, we can only be on the side of justice and peace. It doesn’t matter whether Jerusalem is in the hands of Jews or Arabs. With peace and harmony both worshipers can have access to these Holy Sites.
Zambia we have enough internall problems without trying to be a big boy in the international world.
With due respect spaka we get a significant amount of aid also. We were caught in a bind.
We vote against america our aid is cut, we vote for america and hat will our saudi arabian oil suppliers say
We are small fish in the international world no matter how much we puff our chests out.
Plenty of posts on Israel palestine, lets fix our own country first then look at others
Masalamuso
I fully agree with the neutral position taken by Zambia…..though trump and Israel see it as not voting with them……..
What about Togo? Is it a big fish? Size doesn’t matter, what matters is principle.
A small axe will chop down the big tree, just like little David (the Isrealite) slew mighty Goliath (the Philistine/Palestinian.)
A few countries are willing to sell their souls and principles….
A bit too late for the response bwana Kalaba, the world has moved on to what is happening in Iran and in Zambia we have moved on to mukula gate scandal so try and keep up honourable.
At least abstain if you understand both positions ka
America has little to no regard to what the rest of the world says. We saw that with respect to the Iraq war, a war that could have been avoided. America went straight into it despite the cries against such a move from the weaker nations of the world. In the end, America footed the bill, paying a rather hefty price. Should that not be reason enough for the smaller nations of the world always to learn to band together in opposition to the world’s only Super Power? Should that not have been reason enough for Zambia to decide to take the side that was taken by the majority of the other nations over Jerusalem?
Now Mr. Kalaba, how would you like us to view your decision to abscond the UN meeting? Would you say that it was an act of negligence or blatant incompetence on your part? Was this an inability to analyze the facts properly, or was this a product of a sick head, or an irregular heart beat due to chronic anemia? And if you are that morally anemic, why do you still consider yourself competent enough to flex your feeble and frail moral muscle on matters affecting other mortals around the world?
You folks didnt we exhaustively debate the Jerusalem issue last week? Hon Kalaba is just clarifying why Zambia did not participate.
Spaka be careful what you are opposing, your MPs are known to boycott parliament. They boycott not abstain. So what is wrong with Zambia simply not attending the vote session at UN?
Chiwenga. There are billions of people, especially in Africa who are in dire need if food aid. Yet Israel gets the largest aid donation to any country.
If you are doing so well in Israel then why are you living on alms, a self professed welfare state.
Second fact. The Biblical and Koranic references refer to the children of Israel (meaning Jacob). Jacob was called Israel, not a country but a personal name.
The vast majority of jewry today are not from the bloodline of Jacob. They are Ashkenazi jews, converts from the khazar empire.
How do Christians support the claim to the holy land of people who are not the children of Israel ?
The true descendants of Abraham are those that follow his teachings, not some phony converts.
No amount of toilet acrobatics will wash away the stink of PF cowardice! They chickened out because The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, warned members she will be “taking names” of countries that vote to reject Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Koswe Mumpoto kumvela choncho simalubilo tate!
I support the Palestinians , they have suffered so much in hands of the Zionist. 2 state solution
I do too. I concur.