ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday said that it was “appalling” that the UN Security Council had been “unable to exercise its primary responsibility” of maintaining international peace and security, adding that it had “failed to demand even a cessation of hostilities” committed by Israeli forces in Palestine.
The views came as Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi addressed an emergency meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) convened to discuss Israel’s devastating violence against the Palestinians in Gaza, stressing that the “voice of the Palestinian people cannot and will not be silenced”.
Qureshi noted that Israel has mounted a “relentless onslaught” against the people of Palestine, resulting in scores of deaths and limited access to food, water, hygiene and health services.
Hospitals and hygiene services depended on electricity but fuel for the power plants had almost run out, he pointed out.
“As we speak, people in Palestine are being killed with impunity. Death echoes in every home in Gaza. [The enclave] is plunged in darkness literally and metaphorically; the only light is of Israeli explosions.
“It is time to say enough. The voice of the Palestinian people cannot and will not be silenced. We, the representatives of the Islamic world are here, to speak with them and for them,” said Qureshi.
“This is Palestine where, in full view of the world, Israeli airstrikes bring down entire buildings to kill and terrorise innocent Palestinians and even silence the media,” he said while referring to Israel’s destruction of a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press, Al Jazeera and other media outlets on Saturday.
The countries preventing the UN from putting forth a resolution demanding an end to the violence bore a heavy responsibility, Qureshi said.
“We must not fail the Palestinian people at this critical juncture,” he said and expressed the hope that the UNSC would issue a call for the cessation of Israeli attacks.
“Let us be clear, there is no more room for military equivalence between the beleaguered and occupied Palestinian people who have no army, no navy and no airforce, and the Israeli war machine — one of the most powerful in the world.
“This is a war between a military occupier and an occupied people. It is a war between an illegal occupation and a legitimate struggle for self-determination,” he said, pointing out to UNGA Resolution 2649 which he said affirmed the legitimacy of the struggle of people under colonial and illegal domination to fight for their right to self-determination using any means at their disposal.
“We should mobilise all possible humanitarian help for the devastated Palestinian population in Gaza and other parts of the occupied territories,” he said, urging the global body to arrange a comprehensive humanitarian assistance programme.
Qureshi said that it was necessary to send medical teams, medicines, food and other supplies to Palestine. He called for an international force to be deployed for protection and for Israel to open all access points to Gaza so aid could reach the enclave.
“If the Security Council cannot agree to send the protection force, a coalition of the willing can be formed to provide at least civilian observers to monitor a cessation of hostilities and supervise the provision of humanitarian help to the Palestinians.”
He also called on the UNGA to “condemn Israel’s forced and illegal eviction of Palestinians, including in the district of Sheikh Jarrah and the construction of Jewish settlements”, stressing Israel’s “crimes against humanity should not escape accountability”.
“There should be no immunity for violating international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention,” he said and asked for the activation of UN Human Rights Council, International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to ensure that Israel was held accountable for its “war crimes”.
Qureshi said that the UN should also revive “concrete efforts to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and to dismantle the illegal settlements and apartheid-like regime Israel has imposed in the occupied territories”.
“It is imperative to initiate bold steps to secure the implementation of the Security Council and General Assembly resolutions calling for a Palestinian state.”
The foreign minister termed the Palestine issue as the reason behind the turmoil and conflicts in the Middle East and the “principle root cause of the humiliation and anger in the Arab and Muslim world”.
He said that the onus for restoring peace was on Israel which needed to end its occupation of Palestinian land. “This General Assembly session must send a clear message to Israel and the Palestinian people,” he added.
UNITED STANCE:
The foreign minister arrived in New York on Wednesday evening on a Palestine peace mission and to attend the UNGA emergency meeting, called by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League.
Pakistan has joined hands with Palestine, Sudan and Turkey to take a united stance at the UNGA session. This is the first UN meeting that has seen the physical presence of foreign ministers since the Covid-19 pandemic paralysed the world. Prior to this, the UN had been holding virtual meetings in the wake of the pandemic.
Soon after his arrival in New York, Qureshi hosted a working dinner of the foreign ministers of OIC member states to discuss the situation in Palestine.
“We hope the UNGA meeting will send a strong message … to end the Israeli aggression and to take concrete steps to find a solution to the Palestine issue,” said the foreign minister while addressing the dinner.
A statement issued by Pakistan’s UN mission said that the foreign minister’s visit to New York was part of Pakistan’s intensive diplomatic outreach to mobilise international support for ending the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinians.
The UNGA session follows an intensive international effort to secure a ceasefire in the occupied Palestinian territories after a week of deadly cross-border violence.
Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed 230 Palestinians, including 65 children, according to the Gaza health ministry, leaving vast areas in rubble and displacing tens of thousands in the crowded territory.
Israel’s army has meanwhile said Hamas and other Islamist armed groups in Gaza have fired 4,070 rockets towards Israel, the overwhelming majority of them intercepted by its Iron Dome air defences. The rockets have claimed 12 lives in Israel, including one child, with one Indian and two Thai nationals among those killed, the police said.
