Pakistan at UN: ‘Perpetuation’ of Israel occupation won’t bring peace to Mideast

UNITED NATIONS: Amidst intensifying Israeli attacks and annexation of Palestinian territories, Pakistan has urged negotiations to find a solution to end the dispute and pave the way for an independent state of Palestine with the city of Jerusalem as its capital.

“The perpetuation of Israeli occupation will not bring peace to the holy land,” Ambassador Aamir Khan, deputy permanent representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, told the General assembly as he reaffirmed Pakistan’s solidarity with Palestine.

“If history is any guide, even if they are dispossessed and disempowered by Israel, every succeeding generation of Palestinians will persist in seeking their freedom and fundamental rights, including their right to self-determination,” he said.

The envoy said that Israel’s actions — such as illegal settlements, demolitions and evictions, are grave violations of international rights laws — are hampering hopes for sustainable peace.

“We condemn the killing and wounding of Palestinians, including women and children by Israel, the occupying power,” Khan said, adding: “International community is obliged, morally and legally, to bring this deplorable situation to an end.”

He underscored the work of UNRWA, the UN agency that delivers basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees, saying political and financial support for the agency is just one way to show solidarity with them.

“We call for 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,” the envoy added.

Opening the debate, Riyad Mansour, permanent observer for the state of Palestine, said that Israeli exceptionalism has only emboldened the country’s worst instincts.

Today, the 193-member body will finally acknowledge the historical injustice that befell the Palestinian people, adopting a resolution that decides to commemorate in the Assembly Hall the 75th anniversary of the Nakba (Catastrophe) when the creation of Israel caused many to lose their homes and become refugees, he said.

There is no two-state solution without a sovereign and independent state of Palestine based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Anybody serious about the two-nation solution must help salvage the Palestinian state and recognise it now without further delay, Mansour said, stressing that justice in Palestine would mean that the international law-based order has triumphed over the impunity and double standards.

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