UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan on Wednesday told the UN Security Council that a just solution of the Palestine-Israel dispute would not only usher in enduring peace in the Middle East but also deal a blow to extremist organisations like the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.
Taking part in a debate on the Middle East situation, Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi warned that unless justice is restored to the Palestinian people, the basic narrative of extremist ideologies that ‘Muslims could secure justice only through force’ would be difficult to defeat. “Palestine, the holy land, is the heart of the Arab and Islamic world. What happens to Palestine and its people will resonate throughout the region,” Pakistan’s envoy told the 15-member council.
She stated that for 50 years Israel has persisted in its illegal occupation of the West Bank in defiance of the charter’s central tenet that territories could not be acquired through the use of force and aggression. Enduring peace in the Middle East was inconceivable without a just resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, she added. The establishment of a viable, independent and contiguous State of Palestine, on the basis of internationally agreed parameters, the pre-1967 borders, and with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, was the only sustainable guarantee for peace.
“It is clear that the movement of any state’s embassy to Jerusalem will also manifestly violate Security Council resolutions,” Lodhi said, obviously referring to recent statements by incoming Trump administration officials that the relocation of American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was a “very big priority”.
She welcomed the recent Security Council resolution affirming that the continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank was likely to foreclose a two-state solution, and called for its implementation.
The recent Paris conference on the Middle East was a welcome step in the right direction, she said. With over 70 states in attendance, it had reaffirmed the primacy of the two-state solution. “There must be consequences for those who continue to defy the force of international consensus,” she stressed.
Regarding the suffering resulting from the lingering conflict in Syria, the Pakistani envoy stated, “we have collectively missed many opportunities to end this tragic conflict over this period.” However, another opportunity beckoned, since with the Russian Federation-Turkey brokered ceasefire, Syrians had started believing in a resolution again.
As regards the conflict in Yemen, Maleeha said the situation had been further exacerbated by external armament and encouragement of certain groups. She called for supporting the efforts of UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed who aimed to restore peace in the Arab country.
