Pakistan urges fixed timeline for Palestinian state on 1967 borders at UN Security Council

NEW YORK: Pakistan has expressed concern over the worsening situation in Gaza. It has said that global efforts should focus on setting a final and irrevocable timeline for the creation of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the basis of the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Pakistan has also called for a permanent end to the Israeli occupation.

These views were expressed by Ambassador Usman Jadoon, Pakistan’s acting permanent representative to the United Nations, while addressing a Security Council meeting held to consider the situation in the Middle East.

Usman Jadoon said lasting peace in the Middle East would not be possible as long as the occupation continued and the Palestinian people were denied the right to self-determination. He said Pakistan stood with the Palestinian people.

Two-state solution and Israeli actions

The Pakistani envoy said special attention was given to the Palestinian issue during the high-level week of the General Assembly. In various meetings and statements, there was clear consensus that the two-state solution was the internationally agreed framework and an essential basis for a just and lasting peace.

He stressed that, along with international commitment to the two-state solution, concrete steps were also needed to preserve the territorial integrity and viability of the Palestinian state.

Usman Jadoon said Resolution 2803, the comprehensive plan to end the Gaza conflict and the New York Declaration provided mutually reinforcing frameworks for achieving this goal. However, he said, Israel’s deliberate attempts to make facts on the ground irreversible were damaging this consensus.

He said the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, especially the E1 project, threatened to cut the territorial links between Palestinian areas.

He said settler violence, demolition of homes, seizure of land and forced evictions were entrenching annexation and weakening the foundations of peace.

The Pakistani envoy demanded that all settlement activity be stopped in line with Resolution 2334, settler violence be ended and those responsible be held accountable.

He also condemned provocative and illegal incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque and Al-Haram Al-Sharif, and called for the historical and legal status of the holy sites to be preserved.

Situation in Gaza

Speaking on Gaza, Usman Jadoon said continued ceasefire violations, the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians and restrictions on humanitarian aid were making the crisis worse, while the onset of winter was feared to add to the hardship.

He said the ceasefire must be fully implemented, humanitarian aid must be delivered without obstruction and on a large scale, and recovery and reconstruction work must move ahead without delay.

He said he had also stressed support for the indispensable role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

He said Pakistan rejected forced displacement and any attempt to divide Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as all these areas were part of a single territorial unit.

The Pakistani envoy said withheld Palestinian revenues should also be released so that the Palestinian Authority could fulfil its responsibilities.

Saudi Arabia and Yemen

Usman Jadoon also condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and its civilian and economic infrastructure, and said the attacks must stop immediately.

He said Pakistan firmly supported Saudi Arabia’s security, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and affirmed its right under international law to defend itself against external attacks.

Ambassador Usman Jadoon said Pakistan supported the efforts of the UN special envoy to resume talks for a comprehensive and lasting peace in Yemen.